Patent ID: 7627821

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer system programmed thereby to perform a method of selectively recording meaningful user activity in a graphical user interface, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of actions input for a graphical user interface; aggregating the plurality of actions using a set of one or more filters into aggregated actions, wherein at least one filter is an absorbing filter, the absorbing filter including a first user-defined rule and a second user-defined rule, the first rule including a reference to the second rule, to define user interface data actions defined by the first rule that are replaced by later user interface data actions defined by the second rule; and converting the aggregated actions into a set of user interface recording/playback primitives, such that playing back the user interface recording/playback primitives replicates the meaningful user activity recorded in the graphical user interface, wherein at least one of the set of user interface recording/playback primitives is a verification method which determines during playback whether a user interface element is available and in a correct state for playback of a next one of the set of user interface recording/playback primitives.