4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining the declarative layout specifies a directional layout for a first set of child elements in sequence, wherein the directional layout is selected from a group consisting of a vertical layout and a horizontal layout.
1. A method of generating a user interface, the method comprising: retrieving structural information comprising a topology of virtual computing resources and application components executing thereon, wherein the structural information specifies a plurality of nodes corresponding to the virtual computing resources and a plurality of child elements of the plurality of nodes; generating a declarative layout associated with the plurality of child elements of the plurality of nodes according to the structural information, wherein the declarative layout is a text description of the structural information associated with the plurality of child elements; translating the declarative layout into a plurality of scalar vector graphics (SVG) elements that renders the plurality of child elements based on the declarative layout, comprising: parsing the text description to determine positional and sizing information for the plurality of child elements based on the declarative layout relative to the plurality of nodes; and rendering, on a display device, a graphical user interface comprising the plurality of SVG elements, wherein the graphical user interface visually represents the topology.