Patent ID: 7810069

Claim:
A method in a data processing system including a computer, comprising the steps of: providing the computer with a software development tool having a user interface that is operable by a user to automatically reflect a modification in source code to avoid completely regenerating the source code, wherein the software development tool includes computer instructions for performing the following steps: receiving an identification of a data structure with an attribute field in a database of data structures useable to form an object-oriented element from the data structure; determining via the computer whether the data structure is associated with the source code; when a determination is made that the data structure is associated with the source code, storing the identification of the data structure in a comment of the source code to relate the data structure with the source code and another determination is made via the computer as to whether the attribute field of the data structure is associated with an attribute in the source code; when an alternative determination is made that the attribute field is not associated with an attribute in the source code, generating via the computer a source code modification, wherein the source code modification includes a new attribute in the source code based upon the attribute field; receiving user input to modify the source code; converting the source code modification to a transient meta model after receiving user input, wherein the transient meta model includes a language-neutral representation of the source code modification, and wherein the language-neutral representation is configured to textually display the source code modification in the language and configured to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the database of data structures; modifying and displaying via the computer a graphical representation of at least a portion of the language-neutral representation to reflect the source code modification and a textual representation of at least a portion of the language-neutral representation to reflect the source code modification, wherein the textual representation and the graphical representation are displayed simultaneously; and using a QA module to evaluate the modified source code, wherein an error message is generated and displayed if the modified source code does not conform to a predefined or user-defined style.