Patent ID: 7451159

Claim:
A method for searching for programming objects that are available in a computing environment, the method comprising: receiving instructions to search for objects, the instructions including at least one optional attribute that the objects should but are not required to have; locating objects in the computing environment, wherein locating objects comprises: comparing a required attribute that was received with the instructions to an attribute on a remote computer, wherein comparing the required attribute to the attribute on the remote computer comprises: instantiating an object token; initializing the object token to point to the attributes on the remote computer: calling a method on the object token to retrieve the attributes; and comparing the retrieved attributes to the required attributes; and for each attribute that matches the required attribute, adding a reference to a located object associated with the attribute to a list of references; and ordering references to the located objects in the list of references based on matches between the attributes of the located objects and at least one optional attribute.