Searching and displaying hierarchical information bases using an enhanced treeview

A method for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

• displaying a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window;
• searching the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria;
• and
• displaying a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.

A program product embodied on a computer readable medium including program instructions executable by a computer for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, the program product comprising:

• program instructions for displaying a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window;
• program instructions for searching the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon a search criteria;
• and
• program instructions for displaying a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.

An apparatus suitable for displaying a view of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

• an input unit configured to receive user configurable view characteristics and a search criteria;
• a search unit configured to search an information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon the search criteria;
• and
• a display unit configured to display within the pane the view of the information hierarchy and indicate within said view locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element.

An apparatus suitable for displaying a graphical treeview of hierarchical information within a pane of a computer display window, comprising:

• an input unit configured to receive user configurable view characteristics and a search criteria;
• a search unit that searches the information hierarchy for a plurality of occurrences of a specified information element based upon the search criteria;
• and
• a display unit configured to display a first graphical treeview of an information hierarchy within a first pane of the computer display window and to display a second graphical treeview of the information hierarchy indicating locations of the plurality of occurrences of the specified information element within a second pane of the computer display window.