The second step of modernization is getting your normalized application e-ready. What this means exactly is replacing all tightly coupled data interfaces (ie. fixed format flat files) with loosely coupled XML document interfaces. In addition, Step 2 also entails tagging existing legacy application data names with industry or partner standard XML tags. Character based user interface displays are replaced or supplemented with XML documents formatted using one of the growing number of presentation tools, XSL (eXtensible Style Language) stylesheets being the most popular and important.

At the completion of Step 2, programs which were once character based now become free standing components which contain only business rules and XML interfaces. When an XML document arrives, the program doesn't know if it came from a workstation, another program, or a server connected to the Web, and it doesn't care.

It simply processes the document like it would any other data and outputs an XML document itself. This XML document then gets tied to an XSL file, which is essentially HTML, that all browsers, workstations and hand held devices connected to the Internet can display.

SmartXML - The First "Second Generation" Solution
The reason SmartXML, Forecross' Step 2 product name, stands apart from the competition is because it's the first second generation solution. Forecross Corporation is the first company to develop automated technology that actually modifies existing application source code to handle native XML documents, regardless of where the document originated. Think about that. Old legacy applications working directly with new B2B technology. All this benefit without the risks of re-writes and unlimited leverage and scalability over the middleware solutions.

Automation - Two Decades of Experience
The concept of modifying existing data structures is easy, once you know what you're doing. Forecross has been performing legacy migrations for nearly two decades and this experience has made the evolution from platform to platform migrations to platform to Web migrations an easy one. When all the big words and fireworks clear, XML and legacy Web deployment is really very simple. It's really only about changing the way an application sends, receives, and presents data. Forecross has been writing parsers and code generators since our inception, it's in our blood. Forecross is the best at Step 2 of Legacy to Web because our parsers are the best at understanding code and inserting templates in exactly the right position.