METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORING TEMPLATES IN A COMPONENT SYSTEM

A component customization and distribution system in an object oriented environment provides a template builder utility which enables a base component to be selectively modified and the modifications to the base component stored as a template. The templates are stored in a template storage file by a template storage dynamic link library. Each template contains initialization data representing the modifications to the state of persistent data of the base component, as well as information useful in registering the template with the file system registry of another computer system, and, optionally, one or more user-defined instructions useful in utilizing the modifications or customizations to the base component. A template storage file containing one or more indexed templates serves as a database from which template distribution packs may be generated.