Method and apparatus for accessing data sources in a three tier environment

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to provide access to a data source from a browser, said computer program product comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to send a request for a page from a browser to a server having a page server portion and a data server portion;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to retrieve said page via the page server portion, said page being encoded to signify additional processing may be required, said page comprising a reference to a presentation;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to create said presentation in said page wherein said presentation is coupled to said data server portion of said server;
• computer readable program code configured to cause said page server portion to provide a non-data bearing portion of said page to said browser;
• computer readable program code configured to cause said data server portion to retrieve appropriate data from said data source using said presentation;
• computer readable program code configured to cause said data server portion to provide said appropriate data from said data source to a data bearing portion of said page for display at said browser.

An apparatus for providing access to a data source from a browser comprising:

• a client comprising a browser and a virtual machine;
• an application server having a page server portion and a data server portion, said browser coupled to said page server portion over a communication network;
• a plurality of data sources coupled to said data server portion, access to said plurality of data sources from said browser comprising:
• said browser sending a request to said application server for a page containing data from said plurality of data sources;
• said page server retrieving said page, wherein said page is type encoded to signify additional processing, said page comprising a reference to a presentation;
• said page creating said presentation in said browser using said virtual machine, said presentation being coupled to said data server portion of said application server;
• said page server portion providing the non-data bearing portion of said page to said browser;
• said data server portion retrieving appropriate data from said plurality of data sources using said presentation;
• and
• said data server portion providing said appropriate data from said plurality of data sources to the data bearing portion of said page for display at said browser.