I have built several applications using Eclipselink and the EL Workbench to generate entity files and all necessary configuration as a deploy.xml file. For my next project, I would like to be able to modify the deploy.xml at runtime, using some sort of XML API, and be able to generate the revised entity files and ideally manipulate the database to reflect the changes (ALTER, DROP, etc.). The project consists of a self-expanding application. I know how to build the functionality from scratch using available generic tools and coding in native SQL code, but I would love to find existing libraries that could save me some of the work. I have looked into Torque, Turbine and other tools, but have not found anything yet, mainly because there is no definitive XML standard for database definition. Apache's DdlUtils is the best option I've found for modifying the database using java and XML, but I still need a bridge with the Eclipselink XML configuration. I'll appreciate any hints to aid my research.