A method and system for interacting with devices having different
capabilities is described. Intelligent server-side objects (referred to
as adapters) are used to translate information and commands to and from
various formats depending on the requirements and capabilities of the
target device. Using an interface to the adapters, a software developer
may create a form without knowing the exact details or features of the
device upon which the form will be displayed. Adapters are logically
grouped together in adapter sets wherein a set of adapters may be used to
transform information to and from a set of devices with common
capabilities. An adapter may inherit attributes and methods from another
adapter in the same or another adapter set. An adapter set may inherit
adapter associations, i.e., which server objects should be mapped to
which adapters, from another adapter set. To make a new or existing
device compatible with existing server applications, a device developer
may relatively quickly create one or more adapters.