Patent ID: 8145633

Claim:
A system for presenting items to a user, the system comprising: a data store that stores item data; a computing device in communication with the data store that is operative to: receive configuration data for an item finder user interface, the configuration data comprising data related to: a type of user interface for the item finder user interface, the user interface type being selected from a plurality of user interface types, each user interface type being configured for a corresponding type of item referenced by the item data, and each user interface type including at least one user interface element populated by an attribute value for the corresponding type of item; and at least one of: (1) a location in which the item finder user interface is used within a deployed environment, and (2) scheduling information for the item finder user interface, wherein the item finder user interface comprises: one or more selectors from which a user selects an attribute value for use in retrieving items that correspond to the selected attribute value; and a result indicator that is dynamically updated upon the user's selection of an attribute value from the one or more selectors, wherein the result indicator reflects information regarding items that correspond to the attribute value selected from the one or more selectors; configure the item finder user interface with the configuration data for use in the deployment environment; and deploy the item finder user interface in the deployment environment; a retrieval agent that, upon selection of the one or more selectors from the deployed item finder user interface, retrieves item data corresponding to the selected attribute value from the data store, and a data store that stores item attribute data, wherein the computing device is further operative to populate, upon a deployment of the item finder user interface in the deployment environment, the one or more selectors of the item finder user interface with an attribute value obtained from the item attribute data store.