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A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility is disclosed that includes a number of time-saving application development tools that significantly enhance design productivity and allow re-using of previously developed application building

A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility is disclosed that includes a number of time-saving application development tools that significantly enhance design productivity and allow re-using of previously developed application building blocks. The development facility includes an application object template library that stores a set of previously defined application object templates. The template library is accessed by developers through a configuration utility that facilitates specifying instances of the set of previously defined application object templates to be included in an application. Thereafter, application objects are instantiated from the selected ones of the set of previously defined application object templates in a build of the specified application.

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What is claimed is: 1. A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility, including a computer system comprising a physical computer-readable medium, the physical computer-readable medium comprising: an application object template library, s

What is claimed is: 1. A template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility, including a computer system comprising a physical computer-readable medium, the physical computer-readable medium comprising: an application object template library, stored on the physical computer-readable medium, including a set of previously defined application object templates; and a configuration utility, comprising computer-executable instructions stored on the computer-readable medium, facilitating specifying instances of the set of previously defined application object templates to be included in a supervisory process control and manufacturing information application, and wherein application objects are instantiated from selected ones of the set of previously defined application object templates and are thereafter hosted in a runtime environment by an application engine object; and wherein the set of previously defined application object templates includes a device integration application object template for creating device integration application object instances, hosted in the runtime environment by the application engine object, for communicating with process control system components, wherein the application object template library comprises a set of generic application object templates and wherein the configuration utility further comprises an object template customization interface for deriving a customized child application object template from a selected one of the set of generic application object templates. 2. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the customized template includes at least one locked attribute dictated by an attribute specified in its parent template. 3. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein an application object instantiated from one of the previously defined application object templates includes an associated graphical view defined within the application object template. 4. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 further comprising a toolkit for developing new object templates and importing the new object templates into the object template library. 5. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 further comprising a code rendering utility, wherein the code rendering utility generates a set of components incorporated within the application object templates, and wherein the set of components support multiple distinct interface types enabling interaction between application object instances and multiple environments. 6. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 5 wherein the multiple distinct interface types include a configuration interface and a runtime interface. 7. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 6 wherein the multiple distinct interface types include a package interface including methods for facilitating maintaining the application object templates in a configuration database. 8. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 6 wherein the runtime interface comprises a set of methods for controlling an operational status of an application object instance created from an application object template. 9. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 4 wherein the toolkit comprises a set of components including a base object template. 10. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 9 wherein the set of components further includes primitives that are user-extendable by designating script primitives and user-defined attributes. 11. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 9 wherein the set of components further includes a base object editor. 12. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 9 wherein the set of components further includes custom editor pages for specifying customized portions of application object definitions. 13. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 4 wherein the toolkit comprises a test container for testing a component of an application object within the development facility. 14. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the device integration application object template creates device integration application objects for acquiring and buffering data from a programmable logic controller. 15. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the device integration application object template creates device integration application objects for acquiring and buffering data from a field device. 16. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the device integration application object template creates device integration application objects for communicating with external process control system components. 17. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 16 wherein the external process control system components reside in a process control network. 18. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 1 wherein the device integration application objects operate as OLE for Process Control (OPC) clients. 19. The template-based supervisory process control and manufacturing information application development facility of claim 18 wherein the device integration application objects receive process control information via a data access server.