Inventors:
John Paul Dodson - Pflugerville TX
Minh Nguyen - Austin TX
Chris Alan Schwendiman - Round Rock TX
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY
International Classification:
G06F 1730
Abstract:
The present invention is a system, method, and computer readable medium for determining which graphic user interface (GUI) control element, including a graphic symbol and associated control code, to use to display particular data. The present invention uses a data-driven model, wherein the GUI control element, referred to as a widget, for a particular set of data is determined dynamically, based on information contained in a database. A widget may be created, displayed, and modified without having to change the program code which uses the widget to display data. As a program executes, it is determined that data needs to be displayed as part of a graphical user interface. The program which is executing calls a generic GUI manager, which determines which widget to use for the particular data at this point in the program and displays the widget. The generic GUI manager reads a database entry associated with the data to be displayed. The database entry contains information, or characteristics, regarding the data.