CLIENT-SERVER SYSTEM WITH CENTRAL APPLICATION MANAGEMENT ALLOWING AN ADMINISTRATOR TO CONFIGURE USER AND GROUP CONTEXTS DURING APPLICATION CONFIGURATION WITHOUT RELAUNCHING THE APPLICATION

A system with a network interconnecting a server and a plurality of user stations. The system allows a system administrator to configure applications in the context of a user or a user group, and then to change the context and continue with configuration in the new context, all without requiring the administrator to terminate and relaunch the application to acquire the configuration information pertaining to the new context. A context change event listener is provided as part of the application being configured at the administrator's station. The listener registers itself in the profile management system. When the administrator changes context by selecting a new user, user group, or terminal or terminal group, a profile manager senses the context change and alerts the listener. The listener then performs a load properties API call to get the preference data from the server for the new context, and causes the configuration application being executed to update variables to reflect the new preference information.