Imagine the UI passes back an XMl node as such:

<properties>
<type> Source </type>
<name> Blooper </name>
<delay>
    <type> Deterministic </type>
    <parameters>
       <param>  4 </param>
    </parameters>
<delay>
<batch>
    <type> Erlang </type>
    <parameters>
       <param>  4 </param>
        <param>  6 </param>
    </parameters>
<batch>

And behind the scene what it is asking that you instantiate a class as such:

new Source("blooper", new Exp(4), new Erlang(4,6);

The problem lies in the fact that you don't know what class you will need to processing, and you will be sent a list of these class definitions with instructions on how they can be linked to each other.

I've heard that using a BeanFactoryPostProcessor might be helpful, or a property editor/convertor. However I am at a loss as to how best to use them to solve my problem.

Any help you can provide will be much appreciated.