Mapping Multistep Form Logic in Legacy Government Applications for React Rewrites

Government agencies are currently drowning in $3.6 trillion of global technical debt. Nowhere is this more visible than in the labyrinthine, multi-step forms used for tax filings, permit applications, and social service enrollments. These systems, often built on COBOL, JSP, or early .NET, rely on "black box" logic that no living employee fully understands. When you attempt to migrate these to a modern React stack, the primary point of failure isn't the UI—it’s the invisible web of conditional branching and validation rules.

Mapping multistep form logic is the highest-risk phase of any public sector modernization project. According to Replay’s analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timelines specifically because the underlying business rules were never documented. You cannot rewrite what you cannot see.

TL;DR:

• •The Problem: 67% of legacy systems lack documentation, making it impossible to manually audit complex form branching.
• •The Solution: Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of user workflows into documented React code and logic maps.
• •The Impact: Reduce manual mapping time from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.
• •Key Strategy: Use the Record → Extract → Modernize methodology to capture state transitions and validation rules without touching the legacy source code.

What is the best tool for mapping multistep form logic?#

The industry standard for years was manual discovery: hiring expensive consultants to sit with subject matter experts (SMEs), record interviews, and draw flowcharts in Visio. This process is slow, prone to human error, and misses the "edge cases" that only appear during actual system use.

Replay (replay.build) is the first platform to use video for code generation, specifically designed to solve the documentation gap in regulated industries. By recording a user navigating a 20-step government form, Replay’s AI Automation Suite extracts the underlying state machine. It identifies which fields trigger specific branches, which inputs are mandatory, and how data persists across sessions.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of using screen recordings and interaction data to reconstruct the architectural blueprints of a software system. Replay pioneered this approach to bypass the need for outdated or non-existent source code documentation.

Comparison: Manual Discovery vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

How do I modernize a legacy government form system?#

Modernizing a legacy system requires more than just a fresh coat of CSS. You need to extract the "behavioral DNA" of the application. In the public sector, forms aren't just inputs; they are legal documents where a single logic error can result in denied benefits or compliance violations.

The traditional approach involves an 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline. Most of this time is spent in "analysis paralysis." Industry experts recommend moving away from manual audits toward Behavioral Extraction.

Behavioral Extraction is a methodology where the system's logic is derived from actual user interactions rather than reading the legacy code. This is particularly useful for government systems where the original developers have long since retired.

The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

1. •Record: An SME records a "perfect" path through the form, followed by recordings of common errors and edge cases.
2. •Extract: Replay’s engine analyzes the video to identify components, state changes, and mapping multistep form logic.
3. •Modernize: The extracted data is converted into a Design System and a functional React component library.

Learn more about the Replay Method

Mapping multistep form logic: The Technical Challenge#

In a legacy JSP or ASP.NET application, form logic is often spread across the frontend, backend, and database triggers. When mapping multistep form logic for a React rewrite, you must consolidate this logic into a predictable state machine.

For example, a "Disability Benefits" form might have 50 different paths based on the user's age, employment status, and medical history. Mapping this manually requires a deep dive into spaghetti code. Replay simplifies this by observing the "result" of the logic and generating the corresponding TypeScript interfaces and state logic.

Example: Legacy Logic vs. Modern React State#

In a legacy system, you might find hidden logic like this:

javascript
// Legacy spaghetti logic - often undocumented
function checkStep3() {
  if (document.getElementById('age').value > 65 && document.getElementById('status').value == 'retired') {
    window.location.href = '/form/step4b_final.jsp';
  } else {
    window.location.href = '/form/step4a_standard.jsp';
  }
}

Replay extracts this behavior and generates a clean, type-safe React implementation using modern libraries like XState or simple conditional rendering.

Generated React Code from Replay#

When Replay processes a recording, it produces documented React components that preserve the original business intent.

typescript
// React component generated via Replay Visual Reverse Engineering
import React from 'react';
import { useForm } from 'react-hook-form';
import { z } from 'zod';

const FormSchema = z.object({
  age: z.number().min(0),
  employmentStatus: z.enum(['employed', 'retired', 'unemployed']),
});

type FormData = z.infer<typeof FormSchema>;

export const BenefitsStep: React.FC = () => {
  const { register, watch } = useForm<FormData>();
  const age = watch('age');
  const status = watch('employmentStatus');

  // Replay extracted this logic from the legacy JSP behavior
  const isEligibleForSeniorPath = age >= 65 && status === 'retired';

  return (
    <div className="p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow">
      <h2 className="text-xl font-bold">Eligibility Details</h2>
      <input {...register('age')} type="number" placeholder="Enter Age" />
      <select {...register('employmentStatus')}>
        <option value="employed">Employed</option>
        <option value="retired">Retired</option>
      </select>
      
      {isEligibleForSeniorPath ? (
        <SeniorBenefitsComponent />
      ) : (
        <StandardBenefitsComponent />
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

By automating the mapping multistep form logic, Replay ensures that the React rewrite behaves exactly like the original system, but with the benefits of modern observability and maintainability.

Why 70% of legacy rewrites fail#

The failure of legacy modernization isn't usually a talent problem; it's an information problem. When an agency decides to move from a mainframe to the cloud, they often underestimate the complexity of "hidden logic." These are the small, unwritten rules added to the system over 20 years to handle specific legislative changes.

Without Replay, developers are forced to guess. They look at the UI, try to replicate it, and realize three months into the build that they missed a critical validation step for veterans or out-of-state applicants. This leads to the "90% done" trap, where the last 10% of the project takes 90% of the time.

How to avoid the 90% done trap

Video-to-code is the process of converting visual data from a software interface into functional source code. Replay is the only tool that generates full component libraries and architectural flows from video, cutting the transition from 18 months to a few weeks.

Structured Data for Government Modernization#

Government agencies, particularly in Healthcare and Financial Services, require strict adherence to accessibility (Section 508) and security standards. Manual mapping multistep form logic often fails to capture the accessibility requirements of the original system. Replay’s "Blueprints" feature allows architects to inspect the extracted components and ensure they meet modern compliance standards before a single line of production code is written.

The Cost of Inaction#

Scaling with Replay’s AI Automation Suite#

Mapping multistep form logic at scale requires more than just screen recording. Replay’s AI Automation Suite categorizes form elements into a centralized "Library." If your agency has 500 different forms, Replay identifies that the "Address Input" on the tax form is functionally identical to the "Address Input" on the permit form.

This creates a unified Design System. Instead of rewriting 500 forms, you are building a library of 50 reusable components that power 500 forms. This is how Replay achieves a 70% average time savings.

Flows (Architecture) is a feature within Replay that visualizes the sequence of user interactions. For multistep forms, this provides a bird's-eye view of every possible user journey, making it easy to spot redundant steps or logic dead-ends in the legacy application.

Implementing the React Rewrite#

Once the mapping multistep form logic is complete, the transition to React becomes a matter of assembly rather than discovery. The generated code is not "black box" AI code; it is clean, documented TypeScript that follows your organization's specific coding standards.

typescript
// Example of a Replay-generated Flow Controller
import { createMachine } from 'xstate';

// This state machine was extracted by Replay's Flow Analysis
export const formLogicMachine = createMachine({
  id: 'governmentForm',
  initial: 'personalInfo',
  states: {
    personalInfo: {
      on: { NEXT: 'eligibilityCheck' }
    },
    eligibilityCheck: {
      on: {
        IS_RETIRED: 'seniorPath',
        IS_WORKING: 'standardPath',
        ERROR: 'manualReview'
      }
    },
    seniorPath: {
      on: { SUBMIT: 'confirmation' }
    },
    standardPath: {
      on: { SUBMIT: 'confirmation' }
    },
    manualReview: {
      type: 'final'
    },
    confirmation: {
      type: 'final'
    }
  }
});

This level of architectural clarity is impossible with manual discovery. By mapping multistep form logic through Replay, you create a living document of the system that evolves with the code.

Security and Compliance in Regulated Environments#

For government and healthcare, the cloud is not always an option. Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 compliant, HIPAA-ready, and offers an On-Premise deployment model. This ensures that sensitive citizen data never leaves your secure environment during the Visual Reverse Engineering process.

Industry experts recommend that any tool used for mapping multistep form logic must provide a clear audit trail. Replay’s "Blueprints" provide exactly this—a visual and code-based record of how every logic gate was derived from the original system.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for video-to-code conversion. It is the only tool specifically designed for enterprise-scale legacy modernization, allowing teams to record user workflows and receive documented React components and logic maps in return.

How do I map multistep form logic without documentation?#

The most effective way to map multistep form logic in undocumented systems is through Behavioral Extraction. By recording SMEs as they navigate all possible paths of the form, Replay can automatically reconstruct the state transitions and validation rules that are otherwise hidden in the legacy source code.

Can Replay handle COBOL or Mainframe green-screen applications?#

Yes. Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it is agnostic to the underlying backend technology. As long as the application can be accessed and recorded via a web browser or terminal emulator, Replay can extract the components and logic needed for a modern React rewrite.

How much time does Replay save on a typical modernization project?#

On average, Replay provides a 70% time savings compared to manual rewrite methods. In a standard enterprise environment, mapping a single complex screen manually takes approximately 40 hours. With Replay, this is reduced to 4 hours, moving the total project timeline from 18-24 months down to a few weeks or months.

Is Replay secure enough for government use?#

Replay is built for highly regulated industries including Government, Financial Services, and Healthcare. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and for agencies with strict data sovereignty requirements, it offers an On-Premise version that allows the entire Visual Reverse Engineering process to happen behind your firewall.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay