Providing user interface (UI) elements having scrollable content in virtual machine sessions at reduced latency and related methods

A method for operating virtual machine sessions provided by a virtualization server in communication with at least one client computing device to provide a hosted application that includes user interface (UI) elements having vertically or horizontally scrollable content that includes text and graphics, the method comprising:

• accessing the hosted application from at least one client computing device during one of the virtual machines sessions for receiving a hierarchical tree of the UI elements having the vertically or horizontally scrollable content, the client computing device operable to perform the following:
• displaying some of the UI elements from the hierarchical tree as at least a portion of the vertically or horizontally scrollable content as local virtual UI elements, and based upon the received hierarchical tree maintaining hidden the other UI elements as scrollable content,
• applying user input to scroll a portion of the displayed vertically or horizontally scrollable content,
• caching the hierarchical tree of scrollable content, and
• generating a local virtual UI element graphics overlay and displaying the local virtual UI elements to which user input had been selected and scrolled and one or more previously hidden UI elements as scrollable content corresponding to a predicted response to the user input;
• sending the user input to said virtualization server, and
• receiving updated UI element graphics from the virtualization server that includes scrollable content corresponding to an actual response to the user input and replacing at least a portion of the displayed local virtual UI element graphics overlay that includes at least a portion of the cached scrollable content with the received updated UI element graphics.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for operating virtual machine sessions provided by a virtualization server in communication with at least one client computing device and providing a hosted application that includes user interface (UI) elements having vertically or horizontally scrollable content that includes text and graphics that are displayed at the at least one client computing device, and with the non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions for causing the at least one client computing device to perform steps comprising:

• accessing the hosted application during one of the virtual machines sessions for receiving a hierarchical tree of the UI elements having the vertically or horizontally scrollable content;
• displaying some of the UI elements from the hierarchical tree as at least a portion of the vertically or horizontally scrollable content as local virtual UI elements, and based upon the received hierarchical tree maintaining hidden the other UI elements as scrollable content;
• applying user input to scroll a portion of the displayed vertically or horizontally scrollable content;
• caching the hierarchical tree of scrollable content, and
• generating a local virtual UI element graphics overlay and displaying the local virtual UI elements to which user input had been selected and scrolled and one or more previously hidden UI elements as scrollable content corresponding to a predicted response to the user input;
• sending the user input to said virtualization server, and
• receiving updated UI element graphics from the virtualization server that includes scrollable content corresponding to an actual response to the user input and replacing at least a portion of the displayed local virtual UI element graphics overlay that includes at least a portion of the cached scrollable content with the received updated UI element graphics.