Patent ID: 8214379

Claim:
At a computer system including one or more processors and system memory, a method for configuring a composite data view, the method comprising: an act of detecting that a first data view and a second data view are to be combined in a composite data view, the first data view being configured to present first data elements from a database based on a first database query, the second data view being configured to present further data elements related to a selected data element of the first data elements, which is selected by a user from the first view, based on a second database query that uses a particular value that identifies the selected data element, such that the second data view depends from data in the first data view; in response to detecting that the first data view and the second data view are to be combined in the composite data view, an act of creating a configuration for the composite data view, including: an act of establishing a selection variable that is under the control of the composite view, the selection variable being configured to store the particular value that identifies the selected data element in the first view; an act of a processor automatically configuring a user-interface control to update the selection variable with the particular value, when received; and an act of the processor automatically re-writing the second database query to re-direct the second database query to use the particular value in the selection variable as the source location for the second database query; and an act of instantiating the created configuration to present the composite data view at a display device.