USER INTERFACE CONTROLS FOR A COMPUTER SYSTEM

A user interface builder provides support for creation of customised user interfaces, enabling users to associate images, animation, sound clips and other media with specific predefined states of a user interface control. A set of object classes for each control predefined within the user interface builder include a first class defining the functional behaviour and a comprehensive state model for the control, and a second class which encapsulates property attributes which may be set by a user to be associated with specific states of the control. In particular, desired graphics images, audio and animation sequences can be associated with a control via simple GUI interaction, avoiding the need for an interface creator to write code for standard interface control functions and so enabling easy creation of interfaces with semantic consistency and customised appearance.