Instrumentation of software applications for configuration thereof

A method for instrumenting a software application 320 for configuration comprises; scanning a source code of the application to detect or determine configuration parameters each identified by a non-executable statement; creating a configuration object, each one mapping a configuration parameter, the object being designed to manage the corresponding parameter; creating configuration interfaces (such as configuration web pages) 350 for editing the parameters, the interfaces able to interact with the object the set the corresponding parameter. The software applications may conform to Java (RTM) Enterprise Edition (JEE or J2EE) specification. This method enables a way of setting and configuring custom configuration parameters rather than standard configuration parameters. The non-executable statements may be included within dedicated components 335, with at least one component extending another component, and where the configuration interfaces may be arranged in a hierarchical structure according to the extensions of the dedicated components. The configuration interfaces may invoke a validation method in response to an editing of each configuration parameter, in accordance with validation rules indicated in the corresponding non-executable statement.