1. A method for building a search query in a data processing system having a graphical user interface, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: responsive to user input, dropping a graphical component representing a first system object onto a graphical component representing a query function, wherein said first system object contains an attribute for which the user wishes to create a query; presenting a set of attributes of the first system object; receiving a user selection of at least one attribute in the set of attributes to create a selected set of attributes; and responsive to the user selection, creating a search query from the selected set of attributes.