Report Connector for Legacy Application Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy applications with outdated user interfaces present a challenge as it is difficult to isolate and reuse the still-useful aspects of existing reports without redeveloping the entire application, due to high integration of functional and outdated components, and the inefficiency of redeveloping multiple reports.
Innovation Solution
A report connector is introduced that transforms user input and output data using input and output mapping rules, allowing the first application to access and utilize the still-useful aspects of existing reports from legacy applications while separating them from outdated components, enabling flexible and efficient integration of updated interfaces and data retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a legacy application is used to access existing report functionality, then the still-useful aspects of the report can be utilized, but the outdated user interface and components are also presented to the user
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the legacy application into distinct functional components: the report generation logic (still-useful aspect) and the user interface (outdated aspect). By separating these components, the patent enables the modern application to provide a contemporary interface while the legacy system handles report generation in the background, thus resolving the contradiction between maintaining reliable report functionality and providing an easy-to-use modern interface.
2Ease of operation
If the legacy application is completely redeveloped to update the user interface, then the user interface becomes modern and desirable, but the redevelopment effort becomes prohibitively large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the user interface layer from the legacy application, isolating it as a separate component. This extraction allows the interface to be modernized independently without affecting the core report generation logic. The modern application calls the legacy report functionality through an API, enabling interface updates without prohibitively large redevelopment efforts.
3Productivity
If the still-useful aspects of the legacy report are separated from the outdated aspects, then efficient reuse is possible, but the high integration of functional and outdated components makes separation difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (API and modern application) between the user and the legacy report system. This intermediary handles the complexity of separation by providing a clean interface that calls the legacy functionality without requiring direct modification or deep integration. The intermediary abstracts the complexity, enabling efficient reuse of legacy report logic while maintaining a modern architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes transforming, by a report connector according to at least one input mapping rule of the report connector, first input data received by a first application to create second input data for a specific report of a plurality of existing reports of a second application. The method also includes providing, by the report connector, the second input data to a report application programming interface (API) capable of providing an interface to the report of the second application. The method also includes receiving, by the report connector, first output data from the report API, the first output data based on the output data from the specific report of the second application. The method also includes transforming, by the report connector according to at least one output mapping rule of the report connector, the first output data to create second output data for the first application.