Patent ID: 7275105

Claim:
A method for enabling an application to work offline and online, comprising the steps of: receiving a request at a client, said request is from said application, said application is separate from said client, said request includes a data request with respect to a first data source; forwarding said request from said client to a server if said client is online, said server is in communication with said first data source, said request includes an identification of said first data source from a plurality of data sources in communication with said server and an indication of a data view for said first data source, said data view describes a portion of said first data source; if said client is not online, processing at least a portion of said data request at said client using data in a local data store accessible to said client, said data in said local data store represents a local version of at least a subset of information stored in said first data source; and responding to said application based on said data in said local data store if said client is not online.