System for internet-based delivery of computer applications

摘要

A development system is described which provides a form-based development environment for partitioning an application such that it can be seamlessly integrated into corporate Webs (i.e., "intranets"). A form is implemented as an "application page" and published as an ActiveX object. Specifically, a new "application" page MIME type is defined: application/x-appdoc. This contains information necessary to create a document (e.g., Microsoft ActiveX Document) locally but, in addition, also includes information necessary to find and download the program code for rendering the view of the document. If the program code is already present locally, it need only be downloaded for purpose of updating the local copy. Once a form is built into an ActiveX object and digitally signed, it can be downloaded to a client and run in a Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.