How to include several fields from a reference object in the current business object?

Summary

How to include several fields from a reference object in the current business object?

Content

I am trying to create a simple VBCS application to manage internal applications.

Custom Object 1: 

Name : Applications

Fields:

     id

     applicationName (Text)

     applicationCategory (Text)

Custom Object 2:

Name : Application Instances

Fields:

     Id

     ref2applications/applicationName (m:1 link to the Applications BO, displaying applicationName as default)

     instanceURL (Text)

The above works fine and can be exposed with no issue in the UI - I can create two top level pages, one to list applications and another one to list application instances, allowing users flexibility to access the information they need directly. It was also easy to create a master detail page to see all application instances for an application.