1. A method for populating a communication message instance in accordance with a component application executing on a device, the component application including at least one data component having at least one data field definition and at least one message component having at least one message field definition, the component definitions expressed in a structured definition language, the method comprising the steps of: determining that a message instance is to be generated and identifying a corresponding message component by a runtime environment, said corresponding message component comprising a mapping to a particular one or more of the at least one data field definitions, said mapping linking the definition of a particular message instance to the definition of a particular one or more data field instances in accordance with a mapping resolution contract resolved at runtime by the runtime environment operating on the message and data component definitions; identifying at least one unique mapping in the corresponding message component, each unique mapping identifying a particular data component as defined by a unique identifier representing the mapping in accordance with the mapping resolution contract; obtaining at least one data instance field value corresponding to the at least one data field of the mapped particular data component; and populating the at least one message field of the message instance with the at least one data instance field value.