SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING DATA USING GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE CONTROL ELEMENTS

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. The characteristics are then analyzed by the generic GUI manager to determine which type of widget to use to display the data. An appropriate widget is then selected and used. Both homogenous changes (i.e. graphic symbol changes, where the behavior remains the same) and heterogeneous changes (i.e. where both the graphic symbol and the behavior change) are supported.