New custom attribute idea for setting parent

I have a xml file specifying a frame with a menu bar and a tabbed panel 
that can have its contents dynamically updated (plugged-in). The 
contents of the tabbed panels are in different xml files. My wish is to 
have these content xml files specify their own main menu additions. At 
the moment, I can't do this.

There are two ways I can think of being able to do the above.

1) Add a new custom Swixml attribute called "parent". The value of this 
attribute has to match a previously created component with a matching 
"id" attribute. When the parser sees this "parent" attribute, it adds 
the component as a child of the component specified by the attribute. 
ie: uses the component with the specified id as the parent, not the one 
that is the parent of the xml element with the "parent" attribte.

eg:
(xml file 1)
<frame>
  <menubar id="mainMenu">
   <menu id="fileMenu" text="File"/>
   <menu text="Edit"/>
  </menubar>
</frame>

(xml file 2)
<component>
  <menu parent="mainMenu" text="Custom Menu"/>
  <menuItem parent="fileMenu" text="Custom File Menu Item"/>
</component>


2) Add a new custom Swixml attribute (can't think of a good name at the 
moment, "is" maybe?) that specifes that this component IS the same 
component as the one with the same "id" attribute. When the parser sees 
this attribute, it doens't create a new component, it just uses the one 
it created earlier.

eg: (using xml file 1 from above)

(xml file 2)
<menubar is="mainMenu">
  <menu text="Custom Menu"/>
  <menu is="fileMenu">
   <menuItem text="Custom File Menu Item"/>
  </menu>
</menubar>


I kind of like option 1 because "parent" is a lot more obvious to me 
than "is", but at the same time I like option 2 because the second xml 
file doesn't need a special root element (this wouldn't always be the 
case, but is needed in this example).

Of course, this technique isn't just for menus, it can be for any 
component (I could use this for something else I'm doing that currently 
requires me to jump through a few hoops).

What do people think?

Mark.