Patent ID: 8782539

Claim:
A workstation including a computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for providing a utility including a generalized architecture facilitating defining and generating user interfaces associated with managing a variety of field device types, the utility including computer-executable instructions for performing, on the workstation, the steps of: providing a device description data store interface providing access to a device description store wherein device descriptions for a variety of field device types are maintained, each device description defining a parameter value set for populating parameter value placeholders within device type manager definitions; providing a device type template store interface to access a set of device type manager definitions; and rendering, by a device type manager engine, on-demand for a designated field device, a device type manager interface providing user access via the workstation to the designated field device based upon: a device description obtained via the device description data store interface according to a device type of the designated field device, and a device type manager definition obtained via the device type template store interface, wherein parameter values provided by the device description populate parameter value placeholders within the device type manager definition.