A system that isolates all of the information that determines the look and
feel of status displays of a GUI into one file is described. This file can
be quickly edited to change the appearance when needed. In one embodiment,
a user requests that an object border should be yellow instead of green
for a particular situation. This modification is achieved without code
recompilation, by editing a few lines in a file. Similarly, if another
visual indicator needs to be added, file editing is all that is required.
The application source code utilizes a class schema which defines the
visual components of the GUI that should be modifiable file. A modifiable
file comprising class instances corresponding to the class schema is read
in and processed when the application is launched. Further changes require
the application to be restarted to read in the modified file.
