Patent ID: 8375335

Claim:
A method of specifying a scope regarding data items on a computer system, comprising: (a) displaying on a graphical user interface (GUI) a control comprising a plurality of hierarchically arranged items, wherein each item of the plurality of hierarchically arranged items can be explicitly selected by a user for inclusion and exclusion from the scope; and (b) displaying, separately from the plurality of hierarchically arranged items, a first list of selectable items explicitly included in the scope and a second list of selectable items explicitly excluded from the scope, a selectable item in the second list corresponding to a selectable item in the first list, wherein when the user selects one of the selectable items within the first list of selectable items explicitly included in the scope or the second list of selectable items explicitly excluded from the scope, automatically navigating the plurality of hierarchically arranged items to display an item within the plurality of hierarchically arranged items that corresponds with the user-selected selectable item; and (c) when the user explicitly selects a specific item for inclusion or exclusion from the scope: (i) changing a state of the specific item from a previous state to a new state; and (ii) changing a state of each descendant of the specific item to a new implicit state based on the new state of the specific item.