Patent ID: 7689905

Claim:
A method for viewing terminal-based content comprising: storing run-time data and visual layout definition data in a computer useable storage medium, wherein the run-time data and the visual layout definition data are associated with a terminal application, which is configured to communicate with a host server in blocks of data in accordance with a standardized terminal protocol; generating a visual screen for the terminal application by combining the layout data and the run-time data, wherein the generating occurs when the terminal application is disconnected from the host server and when the terminal application is disconnected from a host server emulator; and presenting the generated visual screen, the stored run-time data comprises: state data of a plurality of Boolean indicator flags; state data of the visual screen to which data is written; an order in which sequential blocks of data are to be written to the visual screen; and data values of fields of records to be written to the visual screen, the visual layout definition data comprises: record definitions for the blocks of data, where each record defined by the record definitions comprises at least one field; field definitions each of which represents a data value or string constant within a record; and field attributes and record attributes, each of which affects at least one of a run-time behavior or visual presentation of a field or record, wherein each of the field attributes and record attributes is enabled or disabled based upon a Boolean condition.