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.