ENHANCED APPLICATION BEHAVIOR IN THE PRESENCE OF APPLICATION SHARING

An approach for providing enhanced application behavior in the presence of application sharing is provided. An application program interface (“API”) allows an application being shared in a collaborative environment to be aware of its application sharing status. An application developer can incorporate the API into an application program. Then, when an instance of the application is executing, an application sharing host can use the API to notify the instance of the application whenever the instance of the application is being shared. In addition, the application sharing host can also use the API to provide the instance of the application being shared the identity of a user that is in control of the instance of the application being shared.