Patent Document ID: 7668858
Application ID: 11342503

Base Claim:
1. A method for building a search query in a data processing system having a graphical user interface, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: responsive to user input, dropping a first graphical component representing a first system object onto a second graphical component representing a query function, wherein said first system object contains an attribute having a value for which a user wishes to create the search query; responsive to the dropping of the first graphical component onto the second graphical component, presenting a set of attributes currently associated with the first system object on the graphical user interface, wherein the first system object is a pre-existing object within the data processing system and wherein the set of attributes that are presented on the graphical user interface specifies actual properties associated with the pre-existing object; receiving a user selection of at least one attribute in the set of attributes to create a selected attribute set; responsive to the user input, creating the search query from the selected attribute set and from a corresponding value of the first system object for each attribute in the selected attribute set; and using the search query to assemble a set of system objects, wherein each system object of the set of system objects has a value that is a same value for each respective attribute of the first system object, wherein the at least one attribute of the set of attributes is a data processing subsystem attribute that is currently associated with the first system object that is represented by the first graphical component that is dropped onto the second graphical component.

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Claim 4:
4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the presenting step further presents an input for a user-supplied attribute that is not otherwise provided.