PROPERTY TREE FOR METADATA NAVIGATION AND ASSIGNMENT

摘要

A PROPERTY TREE (203) USER INTERFACE PERMITS USER ASSIGNMENT OF VALUES TO METADATA PROPERTIES AND USER NAVIGATION OF DATA, WITHIN A SYSTEM THAT INCLUDES A DATA STORAGE SUBSYSTEM IN WHICH DATA ITEMS ARE ORGANIZED AND QUERIED BY WAY OF PROPERTIES. THE PROPERTY TREE INCLUDES NODES (209) THAT EXPOSE PROPERTIES OF DATA ITEMS (205). A USER MAY INTERACT WITH THE PROPERTY TREE (203) IN ORDER TO EFFECT AN ASSIGNMENT OF A PROPERTY, IN WHICH CASE THE VALUE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROPERTY IN THE DATA STORAGE SUBSYSTEM IS MODIFIED. USER INPUT WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPERTY TREE MAY ALSO BE INDICATIVE OF A QUERY OF DATA STORAGE (105), IN WHICH CASE A BROWSABLE VIEW OF DATA ITEMS (201) RESPONSIVE TO THE QUERY IS DISPLAYED. THE PROPERTY TREE MAY ALSO DISPLAY NODES (209) THAT REPRESENT FOLDERS WITHIN A HIERARCHICAL FILE SYSTEM, NODES (215) THAT REPRESENT PROPERTIES WITH INHERENT HIERARCHY, AND NODES (217) THAT REPRESENT USER-DEFINED HIERARCHICAL PROPERTIES.