Method of rendering a user interface

An electronic device comprising:

• a display for displaying a user interface (UI);
• one or more processors;
• and,
• memory comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more of the processors, cause the device to:
• receive, from a UI client engine associated with an application, a UI component tree for the application, the UI component tree comprising:
• UI component nodes each having associated predefined contextual rendering information, and
• a custom rendering element node having associated incomplete contextual rendering information;
• generate UI rendering instructions in accordance with the UI component tree by:
• for each UI component node, using the predefined contextual rendering information to generate UI component rendering instructions,
• for the custom rendering element node, retrieving custom rendering instructions generated by the application and generating incomplete rendering instructions based on the incomplete contextual rendering information;
• and
• combining the UI component rendering instructions, the incomplete rendering instructions and the retrieved custom rendering instructions;
• and
• render the UI to the display in accordance with the generated UI rendering instructions.

A computer program product on an electronic device, the computer program product comprising memory comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

• receive, from a UI client engine associated with an application, a UI component tree for the application, the UI component tree comprising:
• UI component nodes each having associated predefined contextual rendering information, and
• a custom rendering element node having associated incomplete contextual rendering information;
• generate UI rendering instructions in accordance with the UI component tree by:
• for each UI component node, using the predefined contextual rendering information to generate UI component rendering instructions,
• for the custom rendering element node, retrieving custom rendering instructions generated by the application and generating incomplete rendering instructions based on the incomplete contextual rendering information;
• and
• combining the UI component rendering instructions, the incomplete rendering instructions and the retrieved custom rendering instructions;
• and
• render the UI to the display in accordance with the generated UI rendering instructions.