bioWidgets: data interaction components for genomics.

Motivation: The presentation of genomics data in a perspicuous visual format is critical for its rapid interpretation and validation. Relatively few public database developers have the resources to implement sophisticated front-end user interfaces themselves. Accordingly, these developers would benefit from a reusable toolkit of user interface and data visualization components. Results: We have designed the bioWidget toolkit as a set of JavaBean(TM) components. It includes a wide array of user interface components and defines an architecture for assembling applications. The toolkit is founded on established software engineering design patterns and principles, including componentry Model-View-Controller, factored models and schema neutrality. As a proof of concept, we have used the bioWidget toolkit to create three extendible applications: AnnotView, BlastView and AlignView.