Patent ID: 7613718

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure separating storage of an attribute value from handling of the attribute value, comprising: a) a model element class configured to implement the constructs described by metadata; the model element class storing an attribute value directly in a private member field of the model element class in a memory block where a declaring class is stored; b) a declared nested handler class, wherein the nested handler class is a subclass of a generic handler class and inherits base functionality from the generic handler class, wherein the nested handler class has public access to an enclosing element's private members stored in the private member field of the model element class; c) a meta-attribute information object configured to describe attributes of the model element class; d) a singleton model element field handler object comprising a singleton pattern as an abstract base class for handling inlined field values of the model element class configured to access the attribute value stored in the model element class, wherein a first subclass of the singleton model element field handler object comprises a typed model element field handler subclass defining a get value function; e) a base field handler class which acts as an intermediary generic mechanism when getting the field values in the model element field handler object, wherein the get value function is configured to: i) dispatch the field values to a first sub-classed get field value method in the first subclass; ii) access the model element class and return the attribute value stored in the private member field of the model element class directly upon request; and iii) provide an entry point for other sub-classed get field value method representing a plurality of types so that general purpose client code can access the field values irrespective of the type of the first sub-classed get field value; and wherein the storage of the attribute value is separate from handling of the attribute value.