Patent ID: 7496570

Claim:
A method for selecting software components from a hierarchical directory, comprising: applying keyword matching rules to hierarchical component descriptors, each hierarchical component descriptor corresponding to a particular software component of a plurality of software components; filtering the plurality of software components to produce a subset, wherein the filtering is based upon dependency and classification information stored in the hierarchical component descriptors; scoring the subset of the plurality of software components to produce a ranking, the scoring based upon applying the keyword matching rules to the hierarchical component descriptors and association information and application information, both stored in the hierarchical component descriptors; displaying a list of the subset of the plurality of software components along with the corresponding rankings; selecting a particular software component displayed on the list; calculating associations among the plurality of software components based upon the selection of the particular software component; modifying the hierarchical component descriptors based upon the associations, the filtering and the selection of the particular software component from the list; and integrating the particular software component into a software application.