A method and apparatus for navigating screens in a legacy host system. In
a preferred embodiment, requests for specific legacy host screens are
received by a server. The server then navigates to the appropriate screen
within the legacy host system and retrieves the host screen. Any
intermediate screens navigated by the server in reaching the host screen
are not displayed to the user. If variable data need be entered to access
the host screen, the server sends the user a submittable form on which to
enter the appropriate information, which, once entered and sent to the
server, is used by the server to retrieve the host screen. Once the host
screen has been retrieved, the server formats it into a web page format
using a hypertext language and sends the screen to the user. Other
screens within the legacy host system are accessed by user selection of
selectable links displayed to the user.