Patent ID: 7281202

Claim:
A method for enabling the creation of modular web applications, the method comprising: providing a web application development framework comprising a Part base class comprising at least one property selected from the group comprising Description, FrameState, FrameType, LargeIconImageUrl, Roles, SmallIconImageUrl, Title, and TitleStyle; a plurality of web part controls including a WebPart base class, a CatalogPart base class, and an EditorPart base class, wherein the WebPart base class, the CatalogPart base class, and the EditorPart base class each derive from the Part base class, wherein the WebPart class includes a Connections property, a HelpURL property, and a WebPartHelpMode property, wherein the EditorPart class includes an AllowMinimize property, a WebPartToEdit property, and a Display property, wherein the CatalogPart includes an AvailableParts property and a web part manager property, wherein each web part control has one or more properties that permit each part to derive and inherit properties and to be rendered automatically with other part controls and to be rendered like other part controls; a plurality of zone controls, wherein each zone control arranges at least one of the one or more part controls within each zone, renders an user interface of each of the one or more part controls within each zone, and wherein each zone control is configured to ensure that each of the one or more web part controls in each respective zone, in which the one or more web part controls are found, has a similar appearance by applying zone properties automatically to each web part control found in a corresponding zone, the zone controls including: a web part zone that is used to arrange web parts contained in the web part zone, a catalog zone that is used to arrange catalog parts contained within the catalog zone, and an editor zone that is used to arrange editor parts contained within the editor zone; and a web part manager that tracks the one or more web parts on the web page, the one or more zones on the web page, and which of the one or more web parts are within each zone.