Adding user defined fields

Hey Guys,

I know I have seen this asked before in the forum but I have not seen any good replies to this question.

What is the most efficient or standard way of adding any required user defined fields, tables, etc.. when deploying an addon? (SBO 2004) I am using the meta data objects to create the fields I need now but that seems like a lot of code to create a few user defined fields and tables.

Is there a better approach?