Patent ID: 7526734

Claim:
A graphical user interface (GUI) system for developing an enterprise application, the GUI system comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions that cause the processor to perform GUI operations, the memory having at least two enterprise system components including a first component and a second component, the first component being associated with a first execution state, the second component being associated with a second execution state, the first component being loaded into the memory by a first class loader, the second component being loaded into the memory by a second class loader, and the memory having a link from the first class loader to the second class loader; and a display device coupled to the processor to display a first window and a second window, the first window including a graphical representation of the first component, the second window presenting one or more properties associated with the first component when the graphical representation is activated, the second window including a reference field associated with the one or more properties to display a dependency relationship with the second component, the dependency relationship being associated with a set of constraints between the first execution state and the second execution state, the dependency relationship including an indication indicating a strength of the dependency relationship comprising a strong dependency relationship or a weak dependency relationship, wherein the strong dependency relationship includes sharing classes and runtime objects and is associated with a first set of constraints, wherein the weak dependency relationship includes sharing classes and is associated with a second set of constraints, wherein the first set of constraints has a first number of constraints, wherein the second set of constraints has a second number of constraints, wherein the first number of constraints is greater than the second number of constraints, wherein the first set of constraints includes at least one constraint of the second set of constraints, wherein the at least one constraint of the second set of constraints is used to determine existence of the second component, and wherein the link from the first class loader to the second class loader is established if the second component exists in view of the at least one constraint.