Patent ID: 8245150

Claim:
A parts catalog system, comprising: a processor; a computer-readable medium operatively coupled to the processor and including a memory in which is stored a database configured to catalog collections of data associated with and identifying hardware items; a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to display at least some of the data associated with and identifying a hardware item including: a graphical representation of the hardware item; a data field displayed visually integral with the graphical representation in a manner that illustrates a correlation between the data within the data field and at least one physical characteristic of the hardware item illustrated by the graphical representation, the data field being configured to accept input to designate a desired value for the data within the data field in order to search for one or more of the hardware items for which data is stored in the database; wherein the data field is displayed visually integral with the graphical representation by virtue of being at least one of: within boundaries of the graphical representation; overlapping the graphical representation; and accompanied by dimensioning graphics correlating the data field to a portion of the graphical representation, wherein the data field configured to accept input is a displayed visually linked component of the dimensioning graphics.