Method and apparatus for providing a highly interactive transaction environment in a distributed network

Claim 2

In a multithreaded computing environment, a platform independent method for providing a highly interactive transaction session between a browser residing on a client computer and a date base coupled to a server computer that is in turn coupled to a distributed network of computing devices, comprising: displaying a requested web page at the client computer, wherein the displayed web page includes a plurality of input selection icons and an update icon; sending selection data corresponding to a user selected input to the server computer by the browser; updating a server-side data base based upon the selection data; and updating only the update icon to indicate that the data base has been successfully updated; wherein the sending comprises: generating selection data using selected one of the plurality of input selection icons; passing the selection data from the selected input icon to an event handler included in the browser; passing the selection data from the event handler to the interaction applet; and passing the selection data from the interaction applet to the server computer; wherein the updating comprises: generating a first http request by an http request generator, wherein the first http request includes a database update command corresponding to the selection data; passing the database update command to the server computer; and updating the database based upon the selection data; wherein when the database has been successfully updated, generating a second http request by the http request generator, wherein the second http request includes a database update successful flag indicating that the database has been successfully updated; sending the second http request interation applet; and updating the update icon only by the interaction applet indicating that the database has been successfully updated.

Claim 3

A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the web page includes an interaction applet arranged to update the update icon.

Claim 4

A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the browser is a Java based browser.

Claim 5

A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the selection data includes Javascript in the form of javascript arguments and wherein the event handler is a JavaScript onClick handler.

Claim 8

Computer program product for providing a highly interactive transaction session between a browser residing on a client computer and a data base coupled to a server computer that is in turn coupled to a distributed network of computing devices, comprising: computer code for displaying a requested web page at the client computer, wherein the displayed web page includes a plurality of input selection icons and an update icon; computer code for sending selection data corresponding to a user selected input to the server computer by the browser; computer code for updating a server-side data base based upon the selection data; computer code for updating only the update icon to indicate that the data base has been successfully updated; and computer readable medium for storing the computer code; wherein the computer code for sending further comprises: computer code for generating selection data using a selected one of the plurality of input selection icons; computer code for passing the selection data from the selected input icon to an event handler included in the browser; computer code for passing the selection data from the event handler to the interaction applet; and computer code for passing the selection data from the interaction applet to the server computer; wherein the computer code for updating further comprises: computer code for generating a first http request by an http request generator, wherein the first http request includes a database update command corresponding to the selection data; computer code for passing the database update command to the server computer; and computer code for updating the database based upon the selection data; wherein the computer code for determining when the database has been successfully updated comprises: computer code for generating a second http request by the http request generator, wherein the second http request includes a database update successful flag indicating that the database has been successfully updated; computer code for sending the second http request to the interaction applet; and computer code updating the update icon only by the interaction applet indicating that the database has been successfully updated.

Claim 9

Computer program product for providing a highly interactive transaction session between a browser residing on a client computer and a data base coupled to a server computer that is in turn coupled to a distributed network of computing devices, comprising: computer code for displaying a requested web page at the client computer, wherein the displayed web page includes a plurality of input selection icons and an update icon; computer code for sending selection data corresponding to a user selected input to the server computer by the browser; computer code for updating a server-side data base based upon the selection data; computer code for updating only the update icon to indicate that the data base has been successfully updated; and computer readable medium for storing the computer code; wherein the computer code for sending further comprises: computer code for generating selection data using a selected one of the plurality of input selection icons; computer code for passing the selection data from the selected input icon to an event handler included in the browser; computer code for passing the selection data from the event handler to the interaction applet; and computer code for passing the selection data from the interaction applet to the server computer; wherein the computer code for updating further comprises: computer code for generating a first http request by an http request generator, wherein the first http request includes a database update command corresponding to the selection data; computer code for passing the database update command to the server computer; and computer code for updating the database based upon the selection data; wherein the computer code for determining when the database has been successfully updated comprises: computer code for generating a second http request by the http request generator, wherein the second http request includes a database update successful flag indicating that the database has been successfully updated; computer code for sending the second http request to the interaction applet; and computer code updating the update icon only by the interaction applet indicating that the database has been successfully updated.

Claim 10

Computer program product as recited in claim 6 , wherein the web page includes computer code for providing an interaction applet arranged to update the update icon.

Claim 11

Computer program product as recited in claim 6 , wherein the browser is a Java based browser.