"alesj" wrote : I would also handle different metadata classes/values differently, more OO. | As it would be much easier to extend (and support) in the future. | | Every excessive "if" usage usually indicates lack of OO. ;-) This is the case when you can edit the types you're dealing with and add a method to them to do what you want to do. So, instead of doing: CommonSuperClass obj =...; | if (obj instance of A) { System.out.println("A blablabla"); } | else if (obj instance of B) { System.out.println("B bla bla bla");} You change A and B classes to: | class A extends CommonSuperClass | { | ... | public String getMessage() { return "A blablabla";} | } | | class B extends CommonSuperClass | { | ... | public String getMessage() { return "B bla bla bla";} | } And now you can do: CommonSuperClass obj = ...; | System.out.println(obj.getMessage()); But, of course, I can't change the meta data classes, adding a method that generates the XML form of each one of them. So, how can I get rid of my if instanceof statements and still generate proper XML for every meta data type? I guess I missed what you're trying to tell me. So, please, elaborate :) View the original post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4237302#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...