Systems and methods are disclosed which employ a centralized selection context having selection states spread across user interface elements. Methods are described in which the binding between widgets and data storage is isolated using the centralized selection context paradigm for a majority of data items represented within a user interface. This selection context is fully accessible by methods that access data while considering the current selection context. The centralized selection context simplifies event-handling logic by having selection context readily available thus removing the need to query individual widgets for their state.