1. A method of operation within a data processing system, the method comprising: receiving a request to execute a first function; executing a second function if the first function is defined to return data in a first type of data structure, the second function, when executed, returning formatting information that indicates an arrangement of fields of data within the first type of data structure; executing the first function to obtain a collection of data formatted according to the first type of data structure; and organizing the collection of data according to the formatting information returned by the second function.