An Architecture-Driven Modernization Tool for Calculating Metrics

Model-driven development (MDD) techniques such as metamodeling and model transformation are applicable to not just the creation of new software systems but also the evolution of existing systems. This model-driven evolution can help reduce software evolution costs by automating many basic activities in software change processes. One initiative for applying MDD technology in the modernization or reengineering of a legacy system is architecture-driven modernization (ADM), which the Object Management Group (OMG) launched in 2003. ADM aims to facilitate interoperability among modernization tools by defining a set of standard metamodels that represent the metadata involved in a software modernization process. This article shows how to put ADM into practice through the example of a tool that extracts ADM models from PL/SQL code and how to use these models in a modernization activity such as generating metrics of PL/SQL triggers in legacy Oracle Forms applications.