Patent ID: 7047533

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for controlling execution of an event, comprising: calling a wait utility to invoke a wait, wherein the wait utility provides for user-defined wait parameters; determining if the wait is one of interactive and non-interactive, wherein when the wait is interactive, the wait utility may present a human user with options to close or cancel the wait; if non-interactive: invoke the user-defined wait parameters, and determine an end state of the event based on the user-defined wait parameters; if interactive: determining if the wait is mandatory, determining if a timeout has expired, and invoking the user-defined wait parameters; wherein the user-defined wait parameters comprise one or more of a polling function, an argument to be passed to the polling function, initial text to be displayed in an interactive dialog, a time estimate for the wait, whether the wait is mandatory, and whether the wait is interactive, non-interactive, or interactive after the timeout; and wherein the step of invoking the user-defined wait parameters comprises applying an argument of the polling function to determine the event status.