Hierarchical inherited XML DOM

A method for providing a processed data definition document (DDD) having a hierarchical structure intended to be accessed by an application, said method comprising:

• a) providing a standard DDD having elements and attributes;
• b) selecting an element in the DDD that has not yet been selected;
• c) identifying the attributes of the selected element in the DDD;
• d) identifying children of the selected element;
• e) copying the attributes of the selected element to a child of the children;
• f) repeating step e) for at least one child of the identified children of the selected element;
• g) determining raw data and data schema of an electronic document that is not a DDD;
• h) converting the raw data and data schema into a standard DDD;
• i) processing the standard DDD to generate a first processed DDD and storing the first processed DDD in a memory of a computer system, wherein said processing the standard DDD comprises identifying at least one parent element of the standard DDD and for each parent element:
• identifying at least one attribute and at least one child element of said each parent element and copying the at least one attribute to each child element of said each parent element;
• j) converting, by a first system comprising a first application, the first processed DDD to generate a first document object model (DOM);
• k) modifying, by the first application, the first DOM to generate a modified first DOM;
• and
• l) serializing, by the first system, the modified first DOM, to generate a second processed DDD and storing the second processed DDD in the memory of the computer system.