Patent ID: 8146097

Claim:
A system comprising: a server, wherein the server comprises a processor, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, coupled to the processor; a server-side object, wherein the server-side object is stored in the computer-readable storage medium of the server, and the server-side object is configured to be maintained at the server; an object manager (OM), the OM is configured to be executed on the processor of the server, and the OM is further configured to manage the server-side object; and a synchronization mechanism, wherein the synchronization mechanism comprises a server-side synchronization mechanism, and a client-side synchronization mechanism, the synchronization mechanism is configured to facilitate synchronization between the server-side object, and a client-side object, by being configured to invoke a method of the server-side object, in response to receiving a remote procedure call (RPC) from the client-side object, the client-side object is configured to be executed on a client, as part of a graphical user interface (GUI), the client is configured to maintain a cache configured to store a layout of a view, the view is a display panel comprising an arrangement of applets to be displayed in the GUI, and the server is configured to receive a request from the client, wherein the request indicates receipt by the client of a user request to switch to the view, and the request comprises the RPC configured to invoke a method of the server-side object, and in response to the receiving the request, if the request indicates that the layout is not stored in the cache, provide the layout to the client, wherein the layout is configured to be stored in the cache.