Patent ID: 8015545

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for configuring at least one adapter software component to selectively access a set of application software objects including at least one reflective application software object, comprising: accessing a configuration model instance (CMI) external to the adapter software component; determining, based on the CMI, individually for each application software object in the set of application software objects, whether a generic adapter software component of the at least one adapter software component is to be utilized or a custom adapter software component of the at least one adapter software component is to be utilized when rendering the application software object in an object editor; accessing the application software objects in the set of application software objects using one of the generic adapter software component or a custom adapter software component in a manner specified by the CMI to provide a view for representing properties of the application software objects in the object editor; and presenting the view of the application software objects in the object editor, wherein the CMI comprises at least one of a navigator class comprising attributes which provide access to the custom adaptor for accessing a particular class of application software objects of the set of application software objects or a model navigator class comprising attributes which provide access to the generic adapter for accessing a particular class of reflective application software objects of the set of application software objects.