System and method that provide a self-contained demonstration

An electronically readable medium that is non-transient, and includes machine readable code, wherein the machine readable code is designed to execute installation of a self-contained demonstration system on a single device, the electronically readable medium comprising:

• application code that effects the installation of an application module on the single device, the application module being configured (i) to receive, from a user through a graphical user interface device presented to the user on an electronic display associated with the single device, requests input by the user to access and/or manipulate information within an external database server hosting an external database, (ii) to generate requests for the external database server that request the external database server to provide access to the information within the external database and/or manipulate the information within the external database in accordance with the requests input by the user, and (iii) to convey, to the user through the graphical user interface associated with the single device, responses of the external database server to the requests generated by the application module,
• wherein the external database server is logically and physically separate and discrete from the self-contained demonstration system and the single device, and is located remotely from the single device;
• interface code that effects the installation of an interface module on the single device, the interface module being configured to format the requests generated by the application module into a format that is understandable to the external database server, and to format the responses of the external database server to the requests into a format that is understandable to the application module, thereby enabling interaction between the application module and the external database server;
• and
• local information source code that effects the installation of a local information source code on the single device, the local information source being a scaled down version of the external database such that the organization and/or a type of information provided by the local information source is similar to the organization and/or a type of information included in the external database and the information provided by the local information source is limited relative to the information included in the external database,
• wherein, upon installation, the interface module is further configured to format requests generated by the application module and responses of the local information source to the requests such that the application module and the local information source are enabled to interact in substantially the same manner as the application module would interact with the external database server, thereby providing the user with a self-contained demonstration of the operation of the application module and the external database server embodied in the single device.

A computer-implemented method of providing a self-contained demonstration on a single device associated with an electronic display that presents a graphical user interface, and having a processor configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

• receiving from a user, via the graphical user interface associated with the single device, a request to access and/or manipulate information;
• executing, on the one or more processors of the single device, one or more computer program modules configured to generate a request intended for an external database server hosting an external database to provide access to information within the external database and/or manipulate information within the external database in accordance with the request received from the user, wherein the external database server is logically and physically separate and discrete from the self-contained demonstration system and the single device, and is located remotely from the single device;
• executing, on the one or more processors of the single device, one or more computer program modules configured to format the request intended for the external database server into a format that is understandable by a local information source that is located locally on the single device, the local information source being a scaled down version of the external database such that the organization and/or a type of the information provided by the local information source is structurally similar to the organization and/or a type of the information included in the external database and the information provided by the local information source is limited relative to the information included in the external database;
• and
• executing, on the one or more processors of the single device, one or more computer program modules configured to execute the request intended for the external database server on the information within the local information source to generate a response to the request.