Patent ID: 8307328

Claim:
A method for accessing selected functionality of a programming environment from within an add-on toolbox to the programming environment, the method comprising: providing an interface between the add-on toolbox and the programming environment; registering information regarding the selected functionality of the programming environment; accessing, by the add-on toolbox, the registered information for use in presenting the selected functionality to a user of the add-on toolbox; in response to the user designating one of the selected functionality corresponding to the registered information, issuing a first call through the interface; in response to the first call, instantiating an object from an object class that encapsulates the designated one of the selected functionality, the instantiated object having a plurality of properties and supporting a plurality of methods; in response to the user configuring the designated one of the selected functionality from within the add-on toolbox, issuing a second call through the interface; in response to the second call, setting at least one property of the instantiated object that encapsulates the designated one of the selected functionality; storing the at least one property in a computer memory; in response to the user directly interacting with the designated one of the selected functionality from within the add-on toolbox, issuing a third call through the interface; and in response to the third call, invoking at least one method supported by the instantiated object, wherein the selected functionality is external to the add-on toolbox.