Patent attributes
A unique system, user interface, and method that facilitate sharing objects in a query-based storage environment are provided. A query can be generated using metadata and the results therefrom can be obtained and shared with one or more recipients. The query and/or query results can be represented as an icon. Sharing of the query and/or query results can be accomplished in part by dragging the icon to the desired recipient. Queries can be shared as a standing query or a snapshot of the query. For standing queries, recipients can be notified when a set of query results changes. In general, queries can be saved by the user and accessed again at a later time. The user interface provides a plurality of navigation tools to facilitate the viewing of objects based on their metadata and the generation of queries.