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People in the nation joined in Visa Waiver Program can travel America. 2010 Individual Income Tax E-file (Electronic Management System (EMS)). E-mail LISTSERV for Tax Professionals. Treasury has joined with the IRS to provide for electronic filing of income tax returns. ESTA USA Online Application Form. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is an automated online system designed to determine the eligibility of travelers from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to enter the. Patent US6. 05. 78. System and method for processing electronic messages with rules representing .. RELATED APPLICATIONSThe present application is a continuation of non- provisional patent application entitled . U. S. 0. 8/7. 91,8. TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates to a system and method for organizing electronic messages, and more particularly relates to an improved system and method for creating, editing, and distributing rules for automatically processing electronic messages. Over the last four years, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees have worked hard to serve our Veterans, their families and survivors and to move the organization into the digital age.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONElectronic mail (e- mail) and other types of electronic messages are becoming extremely popular. Business users increasingly rely on electronic messages to share ideas, transmit documents, schedule meetings, and perform a multitude of other everyday tasks. These tasks may be accomplished by a variety of software programs. For example, e- mail programs facilitate the transmission of messages between users. Messaging- enabled scheduling programs allow users to request and schedule meetings and appointments via electronic messages. Computer programs known as desktop information managers attempt to coordinate the growing stream of electronic communications by incorporating e- mail, a calendar, task management, contact management, notes, and journal features into a single application program. The increased reliance on electronic messaging has resulted in a great increase in the number of electronic messages a user sends and receives daily. Users who send and receive a large number of e- mail messages would like an effective way to process their e- mail without spending a lot of time sorting through their inbox, deleting, filing, forwarding, and responding to their messages. In general, this type of processing may be performed by rules or commands that automatically execute specific tasks when user- provided criteria are met. For example, a user may want to file all e- mail from a certain user or regarding a certain subject in a specific folder. In the prior art, this type of function was provided by a programming- type scripting language that was used to specify events and to designate actions for events that meet those conditions. Because it relies on a cryptic, programming- type language, this approach is not very user- friendly. A more recent prior art approach allows users to build rules by choosing predefined conditions and actions, which are presented via a simple graphical user interface. Although this approach employs a graphical user interface, it does not provide the user with a step- by- step guide through the rules creation process. In this approach, only the most common rules are exposed to the user, and there is very little customization allowed. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved method for creating and editing rules for processing electronic messages. This method should provide an improved user interface for creating and editing rules for handling electronic messages. In addition to an improved user interface, the system should allow rules to be applied at the desktop or at the server or at both, in order to process electronic messages in the most efficient manner. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention satisfies the above- described needs by providing an improved system and method for creating and editing rules for processing electronic messages. The present invention provides a user interface that guides the user through the process of creating or editing a rule. At each step, the available rules components are displayed as natural language (e. English) phrases. As components are selected, the resulting rule is composed and displayed in a natural language format. Variables are displayed in highlighted text. When the user defines a variable, the user- specified definition is displayed in the context of the message. Templates and the ability to create rules based on existing messages further simplify the process of creating rules. In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for constructing a rule for processing electronic messages. The method includes displaying the current state of the rule in a natural language format. Conditions are displayed and, in response to an input signal indicating the selection of a condition, the selected condition is added to the displayed current state of the rule. Actions are also displayed. In response to an input signal indicating the selection of an action, the selected action is added to the displayed current state of the rule. The rule is then stored for subsequent processing of electronic messages. More particularly described, the displayed rule includes variables that are displayed as highlighted text in the context of the natural language format. Upon receipt of an input signal indicating the selection of the highlighted text, a dialog is displayed in order to allow the selection of a definition for the variable. Upon receipt of an input signal indicating the selection of the definition for the variable, the rule is displayed with the definition in the place of the original variable. In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for constructing a rule for processing electronic messages. The method includes displaying a list of rule templates and receiving an input signal indicating the selection of one of the rule templates. A condition and action associated with the selected template are then displayed. The current state of the rule is displayed in a natural language format. The rule is then stored for subsequent processing of electronic messages. In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method for distributing electronic message processing rules between a client computer and a server computer. The method includes displaying the current state of the rule in a natural language format. Conditions are displayed and, in response to the selection of one of the conditions, the selected condition is added to the displayed current state of the rule. Actions are also displayed. An input selecting one of the actions is received and the selected action is added to the displayed current state of the rule. The method includes determining whether the rule may be run on a server. If so, the rule is uploaded to the server. The various aspects of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and by reference to the appended drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the modular architecture defined by the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the hierarchical arrangement of a MAPI message store. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the MAPI form architecture. FIG. 5 is a state diagram illustrating a method for creating and editing rules for processing electronic messages. FIG. 6, consisting of FIGS. FIG. 7, consisting of FIGS. FIG. 8, consisting of FIGS. FIG. 9, consisting of FIGS. In one embodiment, the invention is incorporated into a desktop information manager application program entitled . Briefly described, the . The present invention allows users to easily create and edit rules that automatically process these electronic messages. Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures, aspects of the present invention and an exemplary operating environment will be described. Exemplary Operating Environment. FIGS. 1- 4 illustrate various aspects of the preferred computing environment in which the present invention is designed to operate. Those skilled in the art will immediately appreciate that FIGS. The Computer Hardware. FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. While the invention will be described in the general context of an application program that runs on an operating system in conjunction with a personal computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention also may be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand- held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor- based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. With reference to FIG. The system memory 2. ROM) 2. 4 and random access memory (RAM) 2. A basic input/output system 2. BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the personal computer 2. ROM 2. 4. The personal computer 2. CD- ROM disk 3. 1 or to read from or write to other optical media. The hard disk drive 2. The drives and their associated computer- readable media provide nonvolatile storage for the personal computer 2. Although the description of computer- readable media above refers to a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk and a CD- ROM disk, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment. A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 2. A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 2. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 2.
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