A computer implemented method of conducting commerce over the Internet wherein a customer uses a client machine to request a web page through the Internet and a web server receives the request and sends a web page in hypertext mark up language (HTML) format that presents the customer with a form. The customer then enters information regarding a transaction at a web store. The form is set up so that the form values, i.e., the name of each variable, implies a way to store the variable's data in a database located in a web server. The forms data is processed into extensible markup language (XML) objects. By using XML path information in the HTML form variable names, the server is able to convert the HTML input into XML objects. This methodology allows the addition of any input fields without having to modify the code or programs residing on the server to accommodate these changes.