Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates creating a User Interface (UI) for a computing device. The system starts by receiving a specification of graphical objects to be used as part of the UI. The system then scans the specification to locate graphical elements that have been previously tagged in a design tool. If a tagged graphical element is located, the system determines the bounds of the tagged graphical element, wherein the bounds define a display area for the tagged graphical element. The system also receives a selection of code to associate with the tagged graphical element. This allows the system to associate the selection of code with the display area for the tagged graphical element.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates deploying components on a client. During operation, the system establishes a communication session through a network connection between the client and a server. Next, the system migrates components from the server to the client, wherein the components provide services and are able to use services provided by other components. Finally, the client installs the components on the client, thereby allowing the components to provide services on the client. Note that by supporting deployment of components on the client in this way, the system facilitates a unified component architecture across the client and the server.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for updating a User Interface (UI) for a computer system. During operation, the system receives a request from a user or an application to modify a spatial attribute of a widget in the UI, such as the size or the location of the widget, wherein the term “widget” generally refers to any UI component, including windows, frames, buttons, list boxes, etc. In response to this request, the system modifies the spatial attribute of the widget. In modifying the spatial attribute of the widget, the system ensures that the modifications adhere to a physics model.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates synchronizing sensory stimuli with operations associated with a user interface (UI) of a computer system. Upon receiving a sensory stimulus, the system analyzes the sensory stimulus to determine a pattern of events within the sensory stimulus. When a pattern of events has been determined, the system synchronizes a secondary sensory stimulus generated by the UI with the pattern of events. Note that this pattern of events can include, but is not limited to, a beat or a rhythm of an audio signal, mouse movements, window operations, and key clicks.

Abstract: A method and system that reduces the space allocated for internal data structures by a runtime engine. The internal data structures store member information for preloaded classes used by applications executed by the runtime engine. The system determines the different types of internal data structures represented in the classes and identifies thee possible values of each type's members. The system next determines the amount of space required to store the values for each type in a respective value table and the number of bits needed to index each entry of that table. The system determines based on the stored information whether occurrences of a member are optimally represented as a set of value table indices and a value table or, in the conventional manner, as a general variable that stores the member's value for each occurrence. The system then emits appropriate information for the member and its parent data structure.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates automatically using a predefined networking group, such as a peer-to-peer group as a context for an application. The system starts by executing the application on behalf of a peer. During execution of the application, the system determines if the peer is a member of a networking group, and if so, the system uses the networking group as a context for the application.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that supports browsing through content on a display. This display presents a graph containing nodes representing content or other objects that are coupled together by links. A “focus node” is located in a prominent position in the display, and other nodes are located in other positions. During operation, a user inputs a selection command that selects a link from the focus node that points to a selected node. In response to this selection command, the system changes the display so that the selected node becomes the focus node. This involves moving the selected node to the prominent position in the display, and rearranging the other nodes to appear in other positions.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that distributes content across a network using a specialized protocol based on an operating environment. During operation, the system receives a request at a local node for content from a remote node via a generic protocol. The system also receives a specifier for a set of capabilities of the local node as well as a specifier for a set of capabilities of the remote node. Additionally, the system determines the specialized protocol over which to distribute the content to the remote node based on the operating environment. This operating environment can include, the set of capabilities of the local node, the set of capabilities of the remote node, and the capability of the network. Finally, the system distributes the content to the remote node via the specialized protocol. The specialized protocol can take into account the capabilities of the network, the local node, and the remote node, thereby allowing for more optimal distribution of the content.

Abstract: A system and method for secure execution of multiple applications using a single GC heap are provided. A root set is maintained for each of the applications. Each root set includes one or more pointers objects stored in the heap. After a garbage collection operation is performed, the root sets may be used to measure resources consumption by each of the applications. The root sets may be used to measure heap consumption by associating each data structure in the memory with a particular application based on reachability from the application's root set. The root sets may be used to measure CPU time consumption during the GC by dividing the total time consumed by the GC by the total amount of the memory or number of objects used by the application. An object finalizer may be executed in a finalizer thread for each application to help limit GC-related misbehavior to GC of the objects of the misbehaving application itself. In one embodiment, static fields of some classes may be shared among applications.

Abstract: Disclosed are apparatus and methods for controlling execution of a target software component within an isolated execution unit. In general terms, an intermediary software component is introduced within the isolated execution unit. This intermediary component program can initialize the isolated execution unit, and then start a target software component within the isolated execution unit. The intermediary component also establishes communication back to the parent (e.g., using an inter isolation communication). The intermediary component communicates with the target software component using the target component's unchanged API and mediates the communication back to the parent using the established inter isolation communication.

Abstract: Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for a process of terminating a thread in a clean, certain, and forcible manner. A thread is forcibly terminated in such a manner that data structures in the system are not left in an inconsistent state and the overall system status is not damaged. The methods and systems described are for terminating a thread in a computer language execution environment. Methods are implemented in an interpretive loop executing in a language that is interpreted and in runtime support libraries in a language that are not interpreted. A method of forcibly terminating a thread in a computer language execution environment is described. A thread receives a terminate thread command. The thread has associated with it a termination flag, a value of the termination flag being immutable once set, and one or more monitors. The termination flag is then set for the thread.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for executing a remote method. Each argument of the remote method is wrapped when the argument is a remote object (e.g. the argument's declared class implements a remote marker interface). However, each argument of the remote method is copied when an argument is not a remote object. The remote method is invoked using the wrapped or copied argument(s) (e.g. the wrapped or copied arguments are passed to the invoked method). A result of the invoked remote method is then wrapped (e.g., prior to being passed to the process that is receiving the result) when the result is a remote object (e.g., the result's declared class does not implement the remote marker interface). In contrast, the result of the remote method is copied (e.g., the copy is then passed to the process that is receiving the result) when the result is are remote object.

Abstract: An online application processing system capable of carrying out online application processing through the use of an easy-to-operate GUI environment takes advantage of the fact that the types of data exchanged by online application programs with a host terminal have conventionally been determined by the specifications of the terminal and are thus common to numerous online application programs. By matching data formats so that existing online application programs are used without modification, a GUI processing program is used as a host access program.