Patent ID: 7752677

Claim:
A method for providing a request to a portlet wherein the portlet renders itself in a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising: generating, at a computer including a computer readable medium and processor operating thereon, a control tree that is a logical representation of the GUI, the control tree including a portlet control that represents the portlet, and a set of controls that interact with each other through an event notification mechanism by raising and responding to events, wherein the set of controls represents graphical and functional elements of the GUI which are related hierarchically to each other; mapping the request to the control tree; advancing the control tree through a plurality of stages in a lifecycle based on the request, wherein the lifecycle is defined by a set of stages, and wherein the set of controls in the control tree are allowed to perform certain tasks depending on the control tree's stage in the lifecycle; and providing the request to a portlet container, wherein the providing is performed by the portlet control.