A method, computer program product, and data processing system for
modifying attributes of GUI components without invasive code modification
are disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a set of attributes for GUI
components is loaded into memory from persistent storage, such as a file.
A root container component forming the root of a hierarchy of components
defined by a containment relation is identified and passed as a parameter
to a routine that traverses the hierarchy so as to visit each GUI
component. As each GUI component is visited, if one or more attributes
from the aforementioned set of attributes are found to be applicable to
the visited GUI component, the GUI component's attributes are modified to
comport with the set of attributes.