Patent ID: 7657869

Claim:
A computer system for integrating a tool into a design environment comprising: a processor and a memory; a tool file stored in the memory, the tool file representing the tool to be integrated into the design environment and comprising a custom build rule for the tool that includes a generalized description of the syntax of a command line that is run when the tool is executed, the generalized description of the syntax of the command line including at least one tag identifying a dynamic property of a command line switch of the command line, a generic property store in the memory that stores values for the dynamic property of the command line switch; and a content handler executing on the processor that receives the tool file and generates from the custom build rule a custom build rule object, the custom build rule object evaluating the dynamic property of the command line switch and automatically replacing the tag in the generalized description of the command line with one or more values from the generic property store to transform the generalized description of the command line into an executable command line comprising the name of the tool to be executed and one or more command line switch properties associated with the tool.