11. A method for editing a document to display status and metadata for an object embedded in the document, the method comprising: opening the document in a user interface of an editor; identifying the object embedded in the document, an identifier of the object, and an address of a remote service corresponding to the object according to an object definition; communicating with the remote service using the identifier and the address to exchange object information with the remote service, wherein the object information includes the status and the metadata; providing the object information to the user interface; and displaying the status and the metadata of the object together with the object in the user interface, at least one of the status and the metadata being displayed with a special effect indicating a change detected in the status or the metadata of the object; determining whether the remote service is available or unavailable; wherein the user interface is configured to display the object as plain text if said document editor determines the remote service to be unavailable; wherein the object information is exchanged by periodically communicating with the remote service, the special effect indicating the change detected since a previous periodic communication with the remote service.
11. A method for editing a document to display status and metadata for an object embedded in the document, the method comprising: opening the document in a user interface of an editor; identifying the object embedded in the document, an identifier of the object, and an address of a remote service corresponding to the object according to an object definition; communicating with the remote service using the identifier and the address to exchange object information with the remote service, wherein the object information includes the status and the metadata; providing the object information to the user interface; and displaying the status and the metadata of the object together with the object in the user interface, at least one of the status and the metadata being displayed with a special effect indicating a change detected in the status or the metadata of the object; determining whether the remote service is available or unavailable; wherein the user interface is configured to display the object as plain text if said document editor determines the remote service to be unavailable; wherein the object information is exchanged by periodically communicating with the remote service, the special effect indicating the change detected since a previous periodic communication with the remote service. 12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the object definition comprises one or more of the following: an object type, a label for display in the document, the address of the remote service corresponding to the object, the identifier, the metadata, and specified content of the object to be displayed in the editor.