Patent ID: 8689121

Claim:
A method for providing graphical controls in a graphical user interface (GUI) of a computer system, the method comprising: receiving a command to create and display a window in the GUI on a display device, the window including one or more control instances, each control instance associated with a control, each control instance operative to perform a function of an application in response to being selected by a user; for each of the one or more control instances: determining an associated scope level for the control instance that indicates an extent of shared use of the control instance within the GUI, wherein the scope level is one of a plurality of different defined scope levels available to be assigned to the control instance within the GUI; checking and determining whether another instance of the associated control already exists within the GUI and is within the scope level for the control instance, the other instance of the associated control having stored resources, wherein the checking and determining includes checking stored information associated with the scope level to determine whether the other instance of the associated control exists as being active and selectable by a user within the GUI and whether the other instance is within the scope level for the control instance, wherein the stored information includes a scope list corresponding to the scope level, the scope list operative to list all active control instances that are active within the GUI within the corresponding scope level, and wherein the scope list is one of a plurality of different stored scope lists, each scope list associated with a different scope level within the GUI; in response to determining that the other instance of the associated control exists within the scope level for the control instance, referencing the resources of the other instance of the associated control to be shared for use with the control instance and not creating new resources for the control instance; and in response to determining that no other instance of the associated control instance exists within the scope level for the control instance, creating and storing new resources for the control instance; and causing a display of the one or more control instances in the window that is displayed in the GUI.