Patent ID: 8205189

Claim:
A method of definition control in a data repository application comprising: defining structures for the data repository application; storing each structure and a source definition corresponding to the structure in a definitions library; as the source definition for each structure stored in the definitions library is used in an instance of the source definition, creating an object that points to the source definition; interconnecting each structure for which the object is created; building the data repository application for a specific use that includes each of the interconnected structures; automatically tracking instances of the source definition; and in response to a change made to the instance of the source definition, automatically updating the source definition with the same change made to the instance of the source definition and using the updated source definition to automatically update all instances of the source definition, wherein automatically updating the source definition includes automatically promulgating back the change made to the instance of the source definition to the source definition, and wherein automatically updating all instances of the source definition includes automatically cascading the updated source definition to update all instances of the source definition.