Patent ID: 7620638

Claim:
A computer-implemented process for selecting, using a computer system, an object in a PLM (Product Life-cycle Management) database containing modeled objects, the process comprising: providing, using said computer system, a graphical user interface with a user-controlled pointer; displaying on the graphical user interface on said computer system a view of a set ( 20 ) of objects ( 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ) of the database, said view being a non-associative view, wherein said non-associative view is such that said objects are not partitioned according to the individual objects of the set from the system standpoint; determining, using said computer system, the location of the pointer ( 32 ) in the view; and searching, using said computer system, the database and identifying to the user one object ( 241 f ) according to the determined location.