Method for accessing information on a host computer from a client computer through an intelligent virtual host component

摘要

A method and apparatus for accessing information on a host computer (104) from a client computer (112) that are connected by a network. The information accessed by the client computer (112) is represented as a plurality of fields in a presentation space data stream (208). The fields and corresponding attribute information in the presentation space data stream (208), as received from the host computer (104), are extracted and stored in field objects contained within a Display control (202). A set of events is provided by the Display control to an application program (204), the events providing information to allow the application program (204) to manage the interaction between an operator and the host computer (104). A set of properties and methods provide the application program (204) with the ability to traverse the field objects and thereby obtain the field information sent from the host computer.