An architecture-based approach for synthesizing and integrating adapters for legacy software

In software organizations there is a very real possibility that a commitment to existing assets will require migration of legacy software towards new environments that use modern technology. One technique that has been suggested for facilitating the migration of existing legacy assets to new platforms is via the use of the adapter design pattern, also known as component wrapping. We describe an approach for facilitating the integration of legacy software into new applications using component wrapping. That is, we demonstrate the use of a software architecture description language as a means for specifying various properties that can be used to assist in the construction of wrappers. In addition, we show how these wrapped components can be used within a distributed object infrastructure as services that are dynamically integrated at runtime.