Generically presenting virtualized data

A computer program product for implementing a method for efficiently providing data from a virtualized data source, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:

• an act of receiving a first data request from a client computer system, the first data request indicating to the data source one or more data elements that are to be sent to a client computer system user;
• an act of sending the data elements requested in the first data request to the user in response to the first data request;
• an act of receiving a second data request from the client computer system, the second data request indicating to the data source one or more new data elements that are to be sent to the user;
• and
• an act of sending the data elements requested in the second data request to the user, wherein the data elements automatically update the previously sent data elements as they are received at the client computer system.

A computer system comprising the following:

• one or more processors;
• system memory;
• one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform a method for efficiently providing data from a virtualized data source, the method comprising the following:
• an act of receiving a data request from a user, the data request indicating to the data source one or more data elements that are to be sent to the user;
• an act of sending the data elements requested in the data request to the user in response to the data request;
• an act of determining that the data request has requested data elements that trigger a request for a subsequent set of data elements to be retrieved at the data source;
• an act of retrieving the subsequent set of data elements triggered by the data request;
• and
• an act of dynamically sending the subsequent set of data elements to the user, such that the user's computer system is updated with the subsequent set of data elements as each data element is received from the data source.