4. The installation method of claim 3 , wherein the reading of parameter selections comprises querying an installation operator and receiving operator input in response thereto.
3. An installation method for a computer application, comprising: installing a core application program on a client computer system, reading a source XML document which contains parameter definitions that are to be used by the core application program to control runtime behavior of the application program, identifying portions of the source XML document which contain parameter definitions that are alterable during installation, protecting portions of the source XML document which contain parameter definitions that should not be altered, for the identified portions, reading parameter selections representing installation preferences for the alterable parameter definitions, developing a history dataset to store previous replacements, detecting patterns in the history dataset, if patterns in the history dataset are detected, developing a rule set that governs future instances of installation, based on previous portions replaced by parameter selections in prior installations, confirming the rule set with a system operator, comparing the identified portions to the rule set, wherein, upon a match with the rule set, the reading of parameter selections comprises reading the parameter selections from the rule set, upon detecting repeated information entered by an operator, suggesting a default parameter value, and storing on the client computer system an installed XML document representing parameter definitions from the source XML document and installation preferences that override the alterable parameter definitions.