Patent ID: 8086969

Claim:
A method for providing a graphical user interface, comprising: generating an application window containing a plurality of controls, wherein each of the controls has a user selectable value associated therewith; receiving a first user input for selecting a rectangular area within said application window by graphically drawing a rectangle that encloses a group of controls in the application window via a pointing device; identifying the group of controls, among said plurality of controls, that are included within the selected rectangular area; receiving a second user input to enter a value in one control in said identified group of controls; and automatically updating the remaining controls in said identified group of controls with the same value as entered in the one control, wherein selecting said rectangular area further comprises: receiving from the pointing device a starting coordinate comprising a mouse-click by the user at a first point in said window; receiving from the pointing device an end coordinate comprising a mouse-release by the user at a second point in said window; and identifying the rectangular area having diagonal corners defined by said starting coordinate and said end coordinate, and wherein selecting the rectangular area comprises selecting via the pointing device multiple isolated rectangular areas in said window, and wherein identifying a group of controls comprises identifying multiple groups of controls that are respectively included within said multiple isolated rectangular areas.