1. A method in a computer system having a client program, a legacy program with user interface elements, and an operating system for managing the client program and the user interface elements of the legacy program, comprising the steps of: the client sending a request to the operating system for a reference to an interface of the legacy program, the interface containing function members that both access and manipulate characteristics of the user interface elements of the legacy program; the operating system receiving the request and sending the request to the legacy program; the legacy program receiving the request and returning an indication to the operating system that the legacy program does not support the interface; the operating system receiving the indication from the legacy program, creating the interface on behalf of the legacy program, and returning a reference to the created interface to the client, the created interface containing the function members that both access and manipulate the characteristics of the user interface elements of the legacy program; and the client receiving the reference to the created interface and invoking the function members of the created interface to both access and manipulate the characteristics of the user interface elements of the legacy program.