Patent ID: 7865842

Claim:
A computer program product for performing a method of displaying one or more entries from a buddy list, the computer program product comprising: a computer-readable storage device; first program instructions for determining whether an individual is included in the buddy list by displaying a graphical user interface and configuring a search preference for a set of fields of the buddy list, wherein the set of fields comprises a user name field, a real name field, and a group name field; second program instructions for receiving a first input in a text entry field of the graphical user interface, wherein the first input comprises a letter of the alphabet from either a user name, a real name, or a group name of the individual, and wherein a first pause follows the input; third program instructions for displaying, responsive to the first pause, a result set in a result field of the graphical user interface, the result set comprising all entries from the set of fields that contain the letter of the alphabet; fourth program instructions for displaying, responsive to a second input of a plurality of additional letters of the alphabet, a revised result set each time one of the plurality of additional letters is input followed by a corresponding pause, wherein each revised result set contains only those entries from the set of fields that contain the letter and one or more of the additional letters; fifth program instructions for identifying the individual from the entries in the result set, wherein a determination that the individual is in the buddy list is enabled by a partial entry of the user name, the real name, or the group name of the individual; and sixth program instructions for automatically, responsive to a selection of an entry from the result set, displaying the entry from the result set in the text entry field and activating a skip lookup control on the graphical user interface; wherein the first through the sixth program instructions are stored in the computer readable storage device.