Abstract: An extensible software framework is used for the development and customization of XML based Web service deployment descriptors. The framework may provide for the mapping and synchronization of XML data fragments in the XML files to user interface components, resulting in an interface that can be used for the development and customization of the Web service configuration. This mechanism may allow concurrent read and write accesses to the XML based Web service deployment descriptors. The mechanism may be extensible, providing for the mapping between the user interface and the XML data fragments to be customized. Additional extensibility may come from the ability of the framework to readily accommodate the situation where the complete configuration of the Web service is described in multiple XML files. The resulting editor may present one unified display of all of the information across multiple files.