Method for dynamically generating a user interface from XML-based documents

A method comprising:

• defining display objects from which a graphical user interface (GUI) can be built;
• generating an object model tree comprising a plurality of objects corresponding to respective XML elements in an XML document, said object model tree further defining a hierarchical position of each object;
• and
• processing the object model tree to generate display objects based on corresponding objects in the object model tree and a respective hierarchical position for each of the corresponding objects;
• retrieving data corresponding to a layout hierarchy, said layout hierarchy defining layout rules specifying how related display objects are to be displayed relative to each other upon rendering;
• and
• dynamically generating a GUI comprising the display objects that are generated, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element from which its corresponding object was generated from and being positioned on the GUI based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout rules defined by the layout hierarchy.

A machine-readable media having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a computing machine perform the operations of:

• processing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document that includes a plurality of XML elements to identify XML elements that pertain to corresponding display objects that may be used to build a graphical user interface (GUI);
• retrieving data corresponding to a layout hierarchy, said layout hierarchy defining layout rules specifying how related display objects are to be displayed relative to each other upon rendering;
• and
• generating data by which a GUI can be rendered, said GUI comprising a plurality of display objects that are rendered on a layout window contained with the GUI, each display object containing data pertaining to an XML element to which it corresponds and being positioned on the layout window based on any relationship it may have to other display objects in accordance with the layout rules defined by the layout hierarchy.