Patent US 5,457,795

A system for establishing a circuit between software programs such that applicable data is automatically transferred between programs and all attributes shown on a single common circuit data interface using unique data files on the hard disk storage area of a general data processor. For a given circuit file type, a global file is used as a data holding tank for storing and displaying all attributes determined or modified by each program in the circuit. A command button is used to create a connection between all the programs in the circuit using a switch file in the local path of each program. A data file is also written that has a code to reference each local data item to the global file. This data is automatically retrieved when this data is determined or modified by the active program in the circuit and control is passed back to the single common circuit data interface. The global file then summarizes all the attributes for a particular item in one file, and makes the current file data available to any other circuit programs that are then selected. This process of sharing data between software programs allows the circuited software programs to perform as one.