Patent ID: 8161371

Claim:
A processor-implemented method for defining a hierarchical structure, said processor-implemented method comprising: a processor providing object items for objects represented in the hierarchical structure, each object item having a name and a link stored within a database; the processor providing a node item having a name in the form of a hierarchical path name, wherein a unique node item is provided for each unique path name in the hierarchical structure, wherein the node item is a leaf node in the hierarchical structure, wherein a name of the leaf node is a full path name that directly describes a full hierarchical pathway from the leaf node to a root node in the hierarchical structure, wherein the full hierarchical pathway is constructed by concatenating a path name for the leaf node with a path name for the root node, wherein a link for an object item links to a single node item having the hierarchical path name of an object, and wherein each node item in the hierarchical structure has a link to an object item; the processor manipulating objects represented by the hierarchical structure by changing links between object items and node items; and the processor searching for objects represented by the hierarchical structure by pattern matching of object items and node item names.