Patent ID: 8144150

Claim:
A display entity for use in presenting a visual depiction of a process entity of a process plant to a user on a display device, the display entity comprising: a computer readable memory; and, a display object stored on the computer readable memory and adapted to be executed on a processor, the display object including: a property memory adapted to store a value of a property associated with the process entity; a plurality of graphic representations of the process entity adapted to be displayed to a user on a display device when the display object is executed on a processor, wherein different graphic representations of the process entity are displayed when the display object is executed in different contexts or for different purposes; a definition routine adapted to enable a user to define a routine that operates in conjunction with the graphic representation of the process entity and the value of the property associated with the process entity during execution of the display object; and a routine that operates in conjunction with at least one of the graphic representations of the process entity to alter the manner in which the at least one of the graphic representations of the process entity is displayed to the user according to the value of the property to reflect an operating condition of the process plant associated with the process entity.