Patent ID: 7478082

Claim:
A method for facilitating access by an application to a data structure comprising a plurality of objects, the method comprising the computer implemented steps of: receiving a request from the application initiating a return of the data structure, wherein the request is received in an application programming interface, and wherein the application programming interface performs the work of resolving the data structure; assigning a corresponding handle to each of a set of objects selected from the plurality of objects, wherein assigning is performed by the application programming interface, and wherein at least one of the set comprises an unresolved object having an unresolved handle, wherein the unresolved handle indicates that the unresolved object is unresolved; retrieving a resolved object from the set by using a corresponding resolved handle to reference the resolved object, wherein the unresolved object of the data structure remains in the data structure and remains unresolved; storing the resolved object; providing the resolved object to the application before the data structure is resolved; storing a second handle assigned to another object in the data structure with a previously retrieved object; responsive to the application accessing the previously retrieved object, determining, by the application, the second handle assigned to the other object; and responsive to the second handle indicating that the another object is unresolved, selecting a third object from the data structure.