Patent ID: 7496583

Claim:
In a computer system having a graphical user interface and a data storage subsystem, a computer-implemented method of assigning values to properties, comprising: first displaying a property tree, the property tree having a plurality of property nodes that can be expanded to reveal sub-nodes, each of the sub-nodes representing metadata properties of a set of data items, wherein the metadata properties are of a type consistent with the expanded one of the property nodes; receiving an indication of a selection of one or more data items of the set of data items residing in the data storage subsystem, wherein the set of data items are organized and queried by way of the metadata properties; receiving a user input indicating one of the revealed sub-nodes thereby defining a new value for the selected one or more data items; in response to the user input, modifying the metadata properties of the selected one or more data items associated with the indicated one of the sub-nodes to be the new value as stored in the data storage subsystem; and second displaying the property tree such that the new value is associated with the indicated one of the sub-nodes, wherein displaying the property tree comprises displaying one of the sub-nodes with an adjacent button for indicating a new value.