Patent ID: 8020110

Claim:
A method of defining a query and generating a resulting hierarchical tree comprising: (a) graphically selecting nodes and one or more edges and graphically placing representations of the selected nodes and one or more edges in a graphical user interface in order to create a vertical stack of nodes and one or more edges respectively representing object types and link types; (b) defining the query based on the stack; and (c) generating the resulting hierarchical tree by applying the query to an underlying data store, wherein a top node of the stack defines one or more top-level elements in the resulting hierarchical tree, a node below the top node of the stack defines child elements of the one or more top-level elements of the resulting hierarchical tree, and an edge of the stack connecting the top node and the node below the top node defines the relationship between the one or more top-level elements and their child elements in the resulting hierarchical tree.