Dynamic cockpit creator

1 . A method comprising:

retrieving a first parameter from a database, the first parameter to describe a screen configuration;

retrieving a second parameter from the database, the second parameter to describe a data source;

displaying the screen configuration described by the first parameter; and

populating a portion of the screen configuration with data from the data source.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accepting user input to define a screen configuration;

converting the user input to the first parameter; and

storing the first parameter in the database.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accepting user input to identify a data source and a presentation style;

converting the user input to the second parameter; and

storing the second parameter in the database.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

automatically generating instructions and data to control a programmable processor, wherein the instructions and data are to cause the programmable processor to perform the displaying and populating operations.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data source is a table in the database.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data source is a web service.

7 . A computer-readable medium containing instructions to cause a programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

retrieving information from a database, the information to describe a hierarchical display configuration and a content of the hierarchical display configuration;

presenting the hierarchical display configuration in a portion of a display screen; and

populating the hierarchical display configuration with the content.

8 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the portion of the display screen is described by a second hierarchical display configuration, and

the second hierarchical display configuration is described by information in the database.

9 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , containing additional instructions to cause the programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

presenting a user interface to collect hierarchical display configuration information from a user; and

storing the hierarchical display configuration information in the database.

10 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , containing additional instructions to cause the programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

generating instructions and data from the information, the instructions and data to cause the programmable processor to perform the presenting and populating operations.

11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the information is stored in a text-based format.

12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the text-based format is Extensible Markup Language (“XML”).

13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the content includes information from the database.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the content includes information from a web service.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , containing additional instructions to cause the programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

automatically refreshing the content after a predetermined event.

16 . A system comprising:

a database to store screen layout information and operational information;

a graphical display; and

dynamic cockpit logic to retrieve the operational information and display it on the graphical display according to the screen layout information.

17 . The system of claim 16 wherein the screen layout information comprises a plurality of hierarchical cockpit definitions, and

one cockpit is to be displayed within a portion of another cockpit.

18 . The system of claim 16 , further comprising:

update logic to refresh the graphical display after a predetermined event.

19 . The system of claim 18 wherein the predetermined event is one of an expiration of a predetermined period of time, a change of the operational information, or a refresh request from a user.