Example embodiments provide a high performance navigator configured to lightly touch on the elements or input of a message, without necessarily having to build an entire tree structure for each input within the message. In addition, as portions of the inputs are identified as requiring further details, only those stub nodes representing that particular input will be created; thus avoiding the setup cost associated with loading an entire tree. Other example embodiments also provide for other optimizations such as reducing the class types of node allocations needed for navigating a particular message. For instance, a single class is defined that holds enough fields to store all of the information needed for numerous input nodes. Further, these common node structures can simultaneously generate as an array that further allows for more efficient navigation of the inputs.