ColdFusion to React: Recovering 20 Years of Peer Review Logic in Scientific Publishing

The $3.6 trillion global technical debt crisis isn't a theoretical problem for scientific publishing—it’s a daily operational hazard. In the world of peer review, where 20 years of complex, proprietary logic is often buried in legacy ColdFusion (.cfm) templates, the risk of a "Big Bang" rewrite is catastrophic. When a publishing house attempts a ColdFusion to React: Recovering 20 years of peer review logic project using traditional methods, they aren't just coding; they are performing digital archaeology on a black box that no one currently employed fully understands.

The reality is stark: 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines. In scientific publishing, where manuscript workflows, reviewer matching algorithms, and double-blind integrity are paramount, a failed migration doesn't just cost money—it halts the progress of global research.

TL;DR: Modernizing legacy ColdFusion peer review systems to React doesn't require a manual 18-month rewrite; Visual Reverse Engineering via Replay allows teams to extract 20 years of business logic in weeks with 70% time savings.

The ColdFusion Trap: Why Manual Modernization Fails#

Most scientific journals built their submission engines in the late 90s or early 2000s using ColdFusion. It was the gold standard for rapid web development at the time. Today, those systems are "zombie platforms." They work, but they are unmaintainable. 67% of these legacy systems lack any form of up-to-date documentation.

When a CTO decides to modernize, the standard approach is to hire a team of consultants to read 500,000 lines of CFML. This "archaeology" phase usually takes 6 months before a single line of React is written. The logic for "Who can see this manuscript?" is often scattered across hundreds of

tags and nested calls.

The Cost of the Status Quo#

⚠️ Warning: Attempting to rewrite peer review logic without a visual source of truth often results in "Logic Drift," where the new system fails to handle edge cases (like co-author conflicts) that were silently managed by the legacy code for decades.

ColdFusion React Recovering: The Visual Reverse Engineering Path#

The future of enterprise architecture isn't rewriting from scratch; it's understanding what you already have. This is where Replay changes the trajectory. Instead of reading dead code, Replay records real user workflows—a managing editor assigning a reviewer, a researcher uploading a LaTeX file—and extracts the underlying logic into documented React components and API contracts.

Step 1: Logic Capture via Workflow Recording#

Instead of a technical debt audit that relies on interviews and memory, Replay uses video as the source of truth. By recording the actual execution of the peer review process, the platform captures the state changes, data inputs, and conditional branches that define the "ColdFusion React recovering" journey.

Step 2: Automated Component Extraction#

Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the recording to generate functional React components. It doesn't just copy the UI; it maps the business logic. If a ColdFusion script triggered a specific email notification based on a reviewer's impact factor, Replay identifies that trigger point and documents it in the new architecture.

Step 3: Generating the Modern Stack#

The output isn't just code—it's an ecosystem. Replay generates:

• •API Contracts: Defining how the new React frontend talks to the legacy (or new) backend.
• •E2E Tests: Ensuring the new system behaves exactly like the old one.
• •Technical Debt Audit: Identifying which parts of the 20-year-old logic are actually redundant.

💰 ROI Insight: Manual extraction of a single complex peer review screen takes an average of 40 hours. With Replay, this is reduced to 4 hours—a 90% reduction in labor costs for the discovery phase.

Preserving 20 Years of Logic: A Technical Deep Dive#

In scientific publishing, the logic is the product. If you lose the specific nuances of how a "Major Revision" status affects a manuscript's metadata, you break the journal's integrity. When performing ColdFusion to React: recovering 20 years of peer review logic, the goal is to move from a monolithic

structure to a modular, typed TypeScript/React architecture.

Legacy ColdFusion Logic (The Black Box)#

html
<!--- Legacy Reviewer Assignment Logic --->
<cfquery name="getReviewer" datasource="publishing_db">
    SELECT * FROM Reviewers 
    WHERE ImpactScore > 5 
    AND Discipline = <cfqueryparam value="#form.discipline#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar">
</cfquery>

<cfif getReviewer.recordCount GT 0 AND session.userRole EQ "Editor">
    <cfset triggerReviewerWorkflow(getReviewer.ID)>
    <div class="success-msg">Reviewer Assigned Successfully.</div>
<cfelse>
    <cflocation url="error.cfm?code=403">
</cfif>

The snippet above looks simple, but in a real-world system, this logic is buried under thousands of lines of global variables and session states. Replay identifies this flow and extracts it into a clean, modern React structure.

Migrated React Component (The Replay Output)#

typescript
// Generated by Replay: Peer Reviewer Assignment Module
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { useReviewerActions } from '../hooks/useReviewerActions';
import { ReviewerType, UserRole } from '../types/publishing';

interface AssignmentProps {
  discipline: string;
  currentUserRole: UserRole;
}

export const ReviewerAssignment: React.FC<AssignmentProps> = ({ discipline, currentUserRole }) => {
  const { assignReviewer, loading, error } = useReviewerActions();
  
  // Logic preserved from legacy .cfm execution:
  // Only Editors can assign reviewers with ImpactScore > 5
  const handleAssignment = async (reviewerId: string) => {
    if (currentUserRole !== 'Editor') {
      throw new Error("Unauthorized: Role 'Editor' required.");
    }
    await assignReviewer(reviewerId);
  };

  return (
    <div className="modern-assignment-container">
      {/* UI components mapped from Replay Library */}
      <ReviewerList 
        onAssign={handleAssignment} 
        filterDiscipline={discipline} 
      />
    </div>
  );
};

💡 Pro Tip: When migrating, don't just "lift and shift" the UI. Use Replay’s Blueprints to identify where business logic should live—moving it from the view layer (where it lived in ColdFusion) to the service layer in your new React application.

Addressing the "Archaeology" Problem in Regulated Environments#

Scientific publishing often falls under strict regulatory or privacy requirements (like GDPR for reviewer data or HIPAA in medical journals). A "black box" rewrite is a compliance nightmare. Replay is built for these environments, offering SOC2 compliance and On-Premise availability.

When you use ColdFusion to React: recovering 20 years of peer review logic as your strategy, you aren't just getting code; you're getting a documented audit trail. Replay’s Flows feature creates a visual map of the entire architecture. This allows VPs of Engineering to show stakeholders exactly how data moves through the system—something that was impossible when the logic was hidden in legacy ColdFusion tags.

The Replay Modernization Workflow#

1. •Assessment: Use the Replay Technical Debt Audit to see which screens are actually used by editors and reviewers. Stop wasting time on dead code.
2. •Recording: Stakeholders record their standard workflows. Replay captures the DOM changes, network requests, and state transitions.
3. •Extraction: Replay’s AI Automation Suite converts these recordings into a Design System (Library) and functional React components.
4. •Validation: Automatically generate E2E tests based on the original recording to ensure 100% logic parity.

📝 Note: Most enterprise rewrites take 18 months because of "Discovery Debt." Replay eliminates this by making discovery a byproduct of simply using the application.

Why "Understand First, Code Second" Wins#

The $3.6 trillion technical debt isn't just a cost; it's a drag on innovation. Every hour an architect spends trying to decipher a ColdFusion file is an hour not spent building AI-driven reviewer matching or better data visualization for researchers.

By focusing on ColdFusion to React: recovering 20 years of peer review logic, companies can bypass the most painful 70% of the modernization journey. Replay transforms the legacy system from an obstacle into a blueprint. You are no longer guessing what the code does; you are observing what the system is.

Comparison: Manual Discovery vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does legacy extraction take for a standard publishing module?#

While a manual audit can take months, Replay typically extracts a fully documented module (like Reviewer Assignment or Manuscript Submission) in 2 to 8 weeks. This includes the generation of React components and API contracts.

What about business logic preservation during ColdFusion React recovering?#

Replay captures the actual execution of the logic in the browser and the network layer. This means that even if the logic is "hidden" in complex ColdFusion server-side code, its effects (data changes, UI responses) are captured and can be reconstructed in the modern React frontend.

Does Replay require access to our legacy source code?#

No. Replay works by recording the application as it runs. This "Visual Reverse Engineering" approach is particularly powerful for systems where the source code is messy, undocumented, or partially lost, as it focuses on the application's behavior.

Can Replay handle HIPAA or SOC2 sensitive data?#

Yes. Replay is built for regulated industries including Healthcare and Financial Services. We offer On-Premise deployment options so that your sensitive manuscript or reviewer data never leaves your secure environment.

How does Replay help with the "Strangler Fig" pattern?#

Replay is the perfect engine for a Strangler Fig migration. By extracting specific flows into React components and documenting the API contracts, you can replace the legacy system piece-by-piece with total confidence that the new React modules match the legacy behavior.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay - see your legacy screen extracted live during the call.