Ronald D Cole, 389720 Indian Princess Dr, Fort Washington, MD 20744

2006008, Apr 13, 2006

Sep 15, 2005

11/227878

Ronald Cole - Arlington VA, US

G06F 17/30

707003000

Computer users frequently need to search for items, such as inventory, based on specific criteria. The specific criteria used are often dependent upon the task they are performing. For example, if they are looking for books they may search by ‘title’. If they are looking for cars they may look by ‘engine type’. This invention allows a user to create the search screens (with places to enter the values for the pertinent fields) automatically by the use of a software wizard. This invention extracts information about the database, and then creates the steps necessary for the person creating the search screen to create it. The person creating the search screen can control what fields the search screen user will be able to search on, how the data will be filtered and/or manipulated, how it will be formatted, and how it will be presented. This provides a tremendous productivity boost to the search screen user, since much of the filtering and decision-making will have been done before hand. Also, by using a wizard to allow the rapid creation of searches, the door is opened for ‘rapid application development.’ This allows non-programmers the ability to create, rapidly deploy, test and refine their own searches.