Patent ID: 7117525

Claim:
An integrated application environment, comprising: a client computer system adapted to communicate with a mainframe computer system, the mainframe computer system in communication with a database holding data about a plurality of customers, the data indexed by keys, the client computer system comprising: a desktop bus adapted to receive keys associated with a plurality of sessions and indexing data about customers stored in the database, store the received keys, and provide the stored keys to applications responsive to occurrences of pre-specified events; a first application in communication with the desktop bus for receiving as user input data representative of a key associated with a session and indexing data about a customer in the database, and for providing the key to the desktop bus; and a second application in communication with the desktop bus for receiving the key associated with the session from the desktop bus responsive to an occurrence of a pre-specified event, and for accessing the data about the customer in the database and indexed by the key; wherein the pre-specified event is at least one of: receipt of the key associated with the session from the first application; and the second application gaining focus.