Highlighted objects window

For displaying information on all highlighted objects in a hierarchical chain of objects, a graphical user interface (GUI), identifies an original highlighted object displayed on a window at a selected hierarchically level. The highlighted object(s) subtended by the original object at the hierarchically next lower level is/are identified and selected from an object storage means, etc, until all highlighted objects corresponding to the original object are identified and selected. The selected objects are placed in a list, and the GIU displays the list in a highlighted objects window where the objects are arranged in a specified order. The list comprises a row for each highlighted object, and a plurality of columns, each column for providing a specified attribute of the object. The GUI may then selects order of the objects in the window by sorting the list by any of the columns.