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If any of your IT applications are running on VB environment, you better hurry to migrate them to
safer and stable environment.
Non-availability of qualified manpower, growing maintenance fees, proprietary technology with an
uncertain long-term direction, and inadequate enhancements are some of the pressing challenges to
warrant VB migration initiatives.
Styrone Inc [Formerly known as Goldstone Info Systems] presents robust, cost-effective, and
automated tools-based migration/ modernization solutions for VB applications. As a proven
leader in legacy migration solutions, our approach combines retention of the business logic,
efficiency of automated tools, and agility of re-architecture to be consistent with enterprise
architecture standards.
Our migration solutions have known to provide up to 60% cost benefits, compared to manual
re-write. With an unprecedented flexibility to re-architect (for example, thick-client to
thin-client, or SOA based or restructuring the database code to reduce the load on the database
server) or for straight migration (one-to-one), you are assured of best-in-class solution with
least investments.
VB to Java/J2EE
Java/J2EE is now corporate standard for applications development. Legacy migration, and
particularly VB migration, to Java technology can be expensive and risky, if not implemented with
a sound methodology. Styrone Inc brings years of experience and scores of legacy migrations across
the globe.
Styrone’ VB to Java migration solutions include:
- Automated conversion tools, for accuracy and efficiency
- VB has the specific features like ADO, RDO, Custom controls or Active X controls, implicit
error management, MTS (Microsoft Transaction Management), Window component framework. Styrone
has the equivalent frameworks in java to achieve the same functionality
- Performing code restructuring, applying standard design patterns during code refactoring
- Providing recommendations / solutions for the issues that are there in the current application
- Reducing the load on the database server by moving the database code into respective coding
layers based on the requirement
- Robust migration methodology
- Re-architecture for web-clients or SOA
- Adoption of industry-standard design patterns and frameworks
- Best practices of application management
- Global delivery model, where needed, for faster and cheaper implementations
Architecture mapping:
The below diagram represents the architectural mapping of VB to the proposed architecture in J2EE
environment (the technologies for each layer will be discussed / proposed during the assessment
phase)
| Automated Tools |
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Styrone Inc uses a suite of proprietary tools for VB Migration. Our tools assist in every
phase of the project – starting form assessment, to GUI design, to business logic
conversion. Our tools work for all versions of VB (including Visual FoxPro). The migrated
code can be deployed on any J2EE-compliant application servers such as Websphere, Weblogic,
Jboss, Oracle iAS etc. to take the advantage of extensive capabilities of enterprise
applications. These tools will help to improve the developer productivity which intern
reduces the total migration time of the application. These automated tools will remove the
human errors from the migration process
The following are brief features of the tools of Styrone for VB migration
- Analyzer
- Used for Sizing of the application and generate the metrics of the application [Total
number of .vbp projects, .mak files and their names, File details used in those
project/mak files (to get the dependencies) LOC per .bas file and .frm file and total
LOC for the project, Total number of custom controls used, Total number of functions,
Number of local variables, Number of global variables, Total number of conditional
statements, Total number of programming loops, Total number of stored procedures, LOC
per SP and total LOC of all SP’s, Number of Database tables, Number of
Constraints, Number of Triggers, Number of Views] including the database code
- Helps in Estimation of effort
- GUI Converter
- Based on the technology chosen by the customer, the windows Generation will be carried
out using [JGoodies / Flex / JSP, Struts, Ajax, HTML]
- Code Converter
- The VB code / database code (specific to business logic) like Program Units,
LOV’s, code in .bas files will be converted to equivalent to standard Java code
- DAO Converter
- Generation of DAO Layer code.
- Traceability Generator [semi automation]
- Map VB code to Java code [to establish the proof that no code is missed out] and also
facilitates the client programs to understand how the code restructured
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| Methodology |
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VB applications usually provide critical business functionalities and are, therefore, often
complex. Our migration approach recognizes and accommodates the need of businesses to
continually evolve the application under migration.
While our automated migration tools guarantee significant savings in effort and costs, our
proven and perfected ‘VB2J Migration Process’ is equally important for
successful VB migration. Be it scoping the project, or selecting a suitable candidate for
proof-of-concept (POC), or validating target architecture, or slicing the application for
allowing the changes in the source application while the migration is under progress - our
approach takes care of it all.
Our VB migration approach consists of -
- Assessment
- Architecture Migration using compatible J2EE architecture patterns and design patterns
suitable for target environment.
- Study the custom controls features for which source code is not available and provide
recommendations to remove the possibility of removing those components or creating the
required frameworks
- Architecture validation to validate the critical architectural parameters to study and
understand in the existing system and to propose the equivalent in the migrated system
- Preparing the application specific reusable frameworks which will provide the
extendibility and better maintainability of the application
- Source Code Migration using automated migration tools followed by manual re-factoring
- GUI Migration to equivalent in J2EE using automated tools
- Business logic Migration to equivalent in J2EE using automated tools
- Identification of reusable business components and expose them as services
- Code traceability of existing code to the migrated code to ensure all code migrated
properly
- Identification of dead code and removing it
- Identifying the redundant code and make the functionality reusable and applying standard
design pattern
- Using standard open source frameworks for the application development
- Unit testing, Integration testing, system testing, user-acceptance testing for each
vertical Slice
- Parallel co-existence of VB and J2EE systems during migration cycle
- System testing and user-acceptance testing for the entire migrated application
- Deployment of migrated system in production environment
The migrated code is completely independent of VB environment. It will not maintain any
wrappers and directly runs on Java / J2EE environment.
Migration Goals and Objectives:
End-to-end migration using tool-based approach
- Analyzer™, GUI Designer™, Code Converter™ & Traceability
Generator
Architecture
- Compatible with J2EE standards [flexible, extendable & maintainable]
- VB to Java thick client (Swing-JGoodies) or web client [JSP / HTML] or Flex or Rich
internet technologies like ICEfaces
- Business functionality should remain same
- Should incorporate standard Java / GUI design patterns
SOA compliance
- Provide a facility to expose re-usable business components as services
Deployment Flexibility
- Client application using Java Web Start
- Server application under J2EE App Server, BEA Web Logic 9.x
Code Quality [ease of maintenance]
- Coding standards: For ease of understanding / maintenance existing naming conventions
will be followed for migrated code
- Newly developed code will be compliant with Sun Java standards
Retaining of existing code comments
- Method descriptions will be moved to Java doc
- Code comments / description will be retained as is in the converted code
Knowledge transfer
- Continuous basis thru reviews/walk-thru of Architecture / code /test cases
External integrations
- Will be suitably migrated
- Provision to provide services interface [WS, JMS..]
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