Method and apparatus for importing and exporting archive files for a graphical user interface

摘要

A method for use in an object oriented programming (OOP) based computer system which utilizes a first application program having interface objects for building a second application program having additional interface objects is provided. The method includes storing objects in a hierarchical locale tree in a storage device. The locale tree has a root locale level and at least one other locale level associated with the second locale. A first plurality of user interface objects having one or more interface object control and a second plurality of user interface objects not having interface object controls of the first locale are created. The second plurality of user interface objects are stored in the other locale level associated with the second locale. The locale tree is traversed, starting at the other locale level associated with the second local and proceeding to the root locale level, to assemble a set of available user interface objects from the user interface objects stored in the other locale level and the root locale level. User interface objects are utilized to develop a third application program derived from the first and second application programs. In addition, objects are imported and exported during processing for use in other program applications by segmenting an object into a human readable and a binary representation. In addition, a storage device readable by a computer system for implementing the method and a user interface object archive system which implements the method are provided.