US Patent 7904417 Recursive metadata templating

A computer-implemented method and system are provided for retrieving a metadata instance defining at least part of an application. In the method, a first metadata instance is loaded. Then, one or more templates specified in the first metadata instance are identified. The identified templates are recursively loaded, and metadata from the first metadata instance is applied to the recursively loaded templates to produce a new metadata instance. The new metadata instance is returned.