Methods and systems for pushing and pulling network data in user interface design

A network management system comprising:

• a portion of a wireless switch hardware configured to accept and execute a management applet;
• a plurality of access ports communicatively coupled to the wireless switch;
• a plurality of mobile units, each communicatively coupled to at least one of the access ports;
• and
• a memory of a wireless switch which stores a management information base (MIB) database
• wherein the MIB stores:
• a plurality of MIB objects associated with a corresponding plurality of components;
• a plurality of MIB extensible markup language (XML) files, each of which is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of MIB objects;
• and a plurality of software interfaces, each of which is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of MIB XML files;
• and
• wherein the applet is executable on a processor of the wireless switch and comprises a pusher feature configured to transfer data from the applet to the MIB and a puller feature configured to obtain data from the MIB on behalf of the applet, and wherein the pusher feature and the puller feature each communicate with the MIB via a software library interface and with the applet via a pre-determined interface that is different from the software library interface in order to isolate the management applet from the library by having the processor translating instructions for network data from the applet to library software instructions and translating the network data received from library software to an interface format compatible with the applet, and wherein the processor can create a user interface page of the network data for display to a user.

A method for facilitating transfer of data between an application logic module and a remote network agent located across a network, wherein the application logic module is configured for presenting network management information to a user on a display, the method comprising:

• receiving a request for the data from the application logic module at a data puller module;
• isolating the application logic module from a software library by reformatting the request at the data puller module to a library format;
• providing the re-formatted request from the data puller module to the software library associated with the remote network agent;
• subsequently receiving a response message from the remote network agent at the data puller module via the software library;
• further isolating the application logic module from a software library by translating the response message to a pre-determined interface format compatible with the application logic module;
• forwarding the response message from the data puller module to the application logic module in the pre-determined interface format;
• creating a user interface page of information in the response message;
• and
• displaying the information for the user on a display.