1. A computer-implemented method for creating and configuring a component-based application, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an application description file containing a definition of a component-based application; generating, in a memory, a representation of a parse tree based on the application description file, the parse tree comprising at least one leaf; for each of a first subset of the leaves, mapping the leaf to a target class; and instantiating a component associated with the target class; and for at least a subset of the instantiated components, invoking at least one method of the component to launch the application.
1. A computer-implemented method for creating and configuring a component-based application, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an application description file containing a definition of a component-based application; generating, in a memory, a representation of a parse tree based on the application description file, the parse tree comprising at least one leaf; for each of a first subset of the leaves, mapping the leaf to a target class; and instantiating a component associated with the target class; and for at least a subset of the instantiated components, invoking at least one method of the component to launch the application. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the instantiating step comprises the steps of: creating an element processor for the element, the element processor being associated with the target class; and creating an uninitialized instance of the target class.