Declaratively extended hierarchical configuration system and method

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions thereon arranged to provide a hierarchical configuration system, the computer-executable instructions comprising:

• identifying configuration setting directives stored in a configuration file, wherein each node of a configuration hierarchy has an associated configuration file;
• associating a schema with the configuration hierarchy, wherein the configuration hierarchy corresponds to configuration settings applied to an application hierarchy;
• associating an object type in the schema with a configuration setting of the configuration hierarchy, wherein the object type declaratively defines a set of properties applicable to the configuration setting;
• and
• transparently applying the configuration settings to the application hierarchy in accordance with the set of properties declaratively defined in the object type.

A hierarchical configuration system, comprising:

• a computing device;
• a memory having stored thereon data structures for implementing the configuration system, the data structures comprising:
• an application hierarchy, wherein the application hierarchy provides a logical inheritance relationship among applications and components;
• configuration files corresponding to each node of the application hierarchy, wherein the configuration files include directives for applying configuration settings to the application hierarchy;
• and
• a schema, wherein the schema includes object types corresponding to the directives of the configuration files and an object type in the schema is associated with a configuration setting of the configuration hierarchy and the object type declaratively defines a set of properties applicable to the configuration setting such that the configuration settings are transparently applied to the application hierarchy in accordance with the set of properties.