Unified platform for building and operating connected and disconnected mobile applications

An integrated application platform for mobile devices unifies the server-sideand client-side wireless applications for connected, disconnected and mixed mode operation. The platform allows a user of a mobile device having a browser to access data from an enterprise system while the mobile device is in a connected mode of operation, a disconnected mode of operation or a mixed mode of operation. The enterprise system of one embodiment of the present invention includes a server, where the server interfaces with a database source adapter for adapting the data from a database on the enterprise system for use by the server. The mobile device and the unified server are provided with a multi-mode application and a smart client module. When the mobile device is in the connected mode, the multi-mode application and the smart client module operate from the server using data taken from the database on the enterprise system. When the mobile device is in the disconnected mode, the multi-mode application and the smart client module operate from the mobile device using a local copy of the data from the enterprise system database and stored locally on the mobile device. When the mobile device is in the mixed mode, the multi-mode application and the smart client module operate from both the server and the mobile device and use both the locally stored data and the enterprise system data.