LOCKING TOOL DATA OBJECTS IN A FRAMEWORK ENVIRONMENT

When data, such as tool data, is commonly accessible, there is a danger that con current user processes will make overlapping modifications and leave the data in an incomplet e or incomprehensible state. The invention provides a locking mechanism to guard agai nst this. The lock objects are maintained in pool or repository. Two types of lock objects are prov ided; shareable locks that may be shared by many user processes and permit only read access to the loc ked data, and exclusive locks, useable by only one user process at a time, that permit the own ing process to modify the locked data.