Yes, the second post (written by Roman) describes how we generate the metadata for the objects coming from the server.

We use a JSON-like format as description of the objects, as you can see in the examples of the second post. One cornerstone of our solution is the ability to merge metadata definitions from multiple sources (generated using knowledge about the model objects or user rights or hand-crafted).

Another key part of the way we build our UIs are the editors used to display, create and change properties. The editors are where we have put a lot of work into and they are getting complex if you try to get fancy stuff going. But on the other side, they are relatively easy to test isolated from the rest of the system.

All tools used by us to generate metadata driven UIs are self-written and not available to the public (at least by now – you never know…).

If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to ask – i am always happy if i can help.

Sebastian

very interesting post, and describes exactly what we try to do as well. I wondering why META Data driven UIs are not more common this days. Anyway, you describe what to do exactly but there is no reference to the tools you use. are this the same as you have described int the newer post http://www.agimatec.de/blog/2009/04/influencing-ajax-guis-with-metadata ?

Thanks a lot for any advise, we are looking to build this approach for a non Java world (for embedded devices)

Thanks a lot,

Holger