17. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer program product including one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to perform a method including the following: read a user-created declarative story, said user-created story comprising: an action to perform defined by the user, a data collection object, said data collection object defining a data type and a name for each of one or more data items associated with said action to be performed defined by the user, and at least one section for defining user interface instructions for presenting a user input component for each of said one or more data items, wherein user input for said one or more data items is for use in an action to be performed defined by the user; generate a user interface from said user-created declarative story, said user interface presenting said user input component for each of said one or more data items based on corresponding data type, wherein each user input component is used for collecting user input for a corresponding data item; present said user interface to a user; for each of said one or more data items, collect said user input for said data item through said corresponding user input component from said user; populate said data collection object with data from said collected user input for said one or more data items; cause said action to be performed based on said populated data collection object; and modifying said user interface based on said one or more of: a data item layout hint, a section item layout hint, and a story layout hint.
17. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer program product including one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to perform a method including the following: read a user-created declarative story, said user-created story comprising: an action to perform defined by the user, a data collection object, said data collection object defining a data type and a name for each of one or more data items associated with said action to be performed defined by the user, and at least one section for defining user interface instructions for presenting a user input component for each of said one or more data items, wherein user input for said one or more data items is for use in an action to be performed defined by the user; generate a user interface from said user-created declarative story, said user interface presenting said user input component for each of said one or more data items based on corresponding data type, wherein each user input component is used for collecting user input for a corresponding data item; present said user interface to a user; for each of said one or more data items, collect said user input for said data item through said corresponding user input component from said user; populate said data collection object with data from said collected user input for said one or more data items; cause said action to be performed based on said populated data collection object; and modifying said user interface based on said one or more of: a data item layout hint, a section item layout hint, and a story layout hint. 19. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to generate a user interface from said user-created declarative story comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to apply a style template to said user interface.