Apparatus for and method of displaying a data item of a database using the display function of a selected data item

摘要

A method and apparatus of operating a display system for displaying data items stored in an associated database. The database stores a display function for each data item class to be also stored in the database therein. When the user selects a data item class, a data item of and a display function associated with the selected data item class are retrieved from the database. The data item is used as an argument of a display function call. The system displays an object using the display data and the data format returned as the result of the display function call. The system may store multiple representations of each data item such as, pictorial, textual and audio representations which may be selected under user control.