Tool Assisted modernization

About The Solution

SoftSol is the leading expert in the area of reengineering and transforming client/server applications to multi-tier Java/J2EE (and C#/.NET technologies). Our effectiveness is due to our expert teams and advanced automation tools. SoftSol has provided tool assisted modernization solution for a variety of mission critical applications ranging from 500K lines of code (LOC) to 5 Million LOC. Although, we had no prior knowledge of these applications, nor worked with these clients before, we were still able to complete on time and within budget.

SoftSol’s migration and modernization experience demonstrates the confidence that high-profile companies and government organizations have placed in our approach:

Security was vital to the U.S. Department of Defense when they turned to SoftSol to migrate and modernize an application that manages all foreign military sales
Robust migration methodology provided array of alternatives to Infosys for migration of UI and business process integration, which made resulting product customized as per requirements
CalPERS, the world’s largest pension fund, selected SoftSol because on-time delivery was imperative
Accurate retention of critical business logic was important to Superior Court of California, HBO and Arcelor Mittal the world’s largest steel maker based in Germany

Primarily SoftSol provides tool assisted modernization solutions for applications developed in PowerBuilder and Forte technologies.

SoftSol’s Automated Migration Solution Benefits

SoftSol Modernization Methodology

Our methodology provides a foundation and logical sequence of steps for successfully completion of the modernization. Each step consists of defined activities and expected outcomes that support moving forward to the next step.

The main characteristics of our process are:

Active participation of client’s staff in decision-making of key architectural and application issues
An implementation and knowledge transfer process that enables client staff to be self-sufficient in maintaining the transformed application
Verification and validation of the application at each step

Modernized Target Application Architecture

The modernized target application has 3-tier architecture with three distinct layers –

Presentation Layer
Business Layer
Persistence/Data Access Layer

The presentation layer will be modernized using rich thin client technologies HTML5+CSS3, jQueryUI, and Angular-JS. The business and data access layer will be modernized using Java or .Net technologies based on the requirements.

Technical Advantages

SoftSol’s automated tool supports almost all aspects of the PowerBuilder and Forte language and platform. This ensures a very high degree of automation for SoftSol’s customers. Some of the key features of the migration tool are listed below.

SoftSol automated migration tool supports translation of following PowerBuilder and Forte features:

Data types to their equivalent supported types in Java/.Net
Statements and expressions
Event-handling framework
Transaction management
Embedded as well as dynamic SQL statements

SoftSol recognizes that every client’s migration project is different and has unique requirements. To account for these migrations, the automated tool is highly configurable and customizable, which ensures that SoftSol can provide a highly customized migration for our clients.

PowerBuilder Modernization

Central to our solution is SoftSol’s proprietary PowerBuilder migration tool which can perform migration of PowerBuilder applications to Java or .Net. It serves three important roles in the migration process:

Analysis and diagnostics: Enables accurate application analysis and facilitates reliable project timeline projection Additionally, it assists in identifying any unique technical challenges inherent to the migration
Language Transformation: Converts PowerBuilder code into Java/.NET technologies
Runtime Libraries: Provides libraries for PowerBuilder and PFC framework classes

Following PowerBuilder language constructs are efficiently translated:

Forte Modernization

The applications developed using UDS/Forte platform have three tiers – client, business logic, and data. The new architecture should follow the same configuration. With SoftSol’s automated tools and modernization methodology the Forte application can be modernized to an application with 3 distinct tiersusing latest technology with minimal risk.

Following Forte language constructs are efficiently supported:

Statements
Statement Blocks
Statement Block Labels
Single Line Comments
Block Comments
Names
Name Resolution
Qualified Names
String Constants
Boolean Constants
Numeric Constants
String Data Type
Char Data Type
Boolean Data Type
Integer Data Type

GUI Widget Attributes
Method Invocation
Named Parameters
Positional Parameters
Output Parameters
Input/Output Parameters
Optional Parameters
Return Value
Return Copy
Method Return Event
Method Exception Event
Declaring Arrays
Constructing Arrays
Referencing Arrays

Float Data Type
Comparison Expressions
Logical Expressions
Numeric Expressions
Object Constructors
Object Referencing
Self Referencing
Super Referencing
GUI Widget Referencing
NIL Referencing
Object Comparison
Casting
Object Attributes
Declaring Variables
Referencing Variables

Event
Exception
Exit
For
If
Method Invocation
Post
Raise
Register
Return
SQL Statements
Start Task
While
Projects
Classes
Declaration
Start Task
Referencing Constants
Begin
Interfaces

Declaring Constants
Cursors
Case
Class Constants
Cursor
Task handle
Logging
Service Object Reference
Constant
SQL
Event Handling
Transaction
Assignment
Begin Transaction
Continue
Project Constants
Service Object
GUI Layouts
Assigning Variables