Natural ADABAS UI Extraction: Modernizing European Public Sector Software

European public sector infrastructure is currently held hostage by a 40-year-old runtime. In the basements of ministries in Berlin, London, and Brussels, the "Green Screen" remains the primary interface for mission-critical tax, healthcare, and pension systems. These systems, built on Software AG’s Natural/ADABAS stack, are reliable but increasingly inaccessible to a modern workforce. The challenge isn't just the database—it’s the UI logic trapped in terminal emulators.

Manual migration efforts are notoriously lethal to enterprise budgets. According to Replay's analysis, 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their original timeline, often because the business logic is so deeply intertwined with the presentation layer that documentation is non-existent. Natural adabas extraction modernizing is no longer just an IT goal; it is a sovereign necessity for government agencies facing a massive talent cliff as the last generation of Natural programmers retires.

TL;DR: Manual rewrites of Natural/ADABAS systems take 18-24 months and often fail due to a 67% lack of documentation. Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to convert recorded mainframe workflows into documented React components and Design Systems, reducing modernization time by 70% and cutting the per-screen development time from 40 hours to just 4.

The $3.6 Trillion Technical Debt Crisis#

The global technical debt has ballooned to $3.6 trillion, and nowhere is this more visible than in the European public sector. Natural/ADABAS environments were designed for efficiency in a world of limited memory, not for the interconnected, API-first requirements of 2024.

When agencies attempt natural adabas extraction modernizing through traditional manual rewrites, they hit a wall: the "Documentation Gap." Industry experts recommend moving away from manual code analysis because 67% of these legacy systems lack any form of functional documentation. The "source of truth" isn't in a PDF; it's in the fingers of the users who have navigated these screens for thirty years.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of capturing real user interactions with legacy software and using AI-driven analysis to reconstruct the underlying UI logic, data structures, and component hierarchies into modern code.

Why Manual Extraction Fails#

The traditional path to natural adabas extraction modernizing involves hiring consultants to read thousands of lines of Natural code, map ADABAS files to relational schemas, and then manually build React equivalents. This process is fraught with risk.

By using Replay, organizations can bypass the "code-first" extraction nightmare. Instead of trying to parse legacy Natural syntax, Replay records the terminal sessions, identifies patterns, and generates a clean, documented React component library. This shifts the focus from "What does this old code say?" to "What does the user actually do?"

Implementing Natural ADABAS Extraction Modernizing with React#

To modernize a Natural UI, we must move from a character-based grid to a functional, accessible React component. The following example demonstrates how a typical Natural "Member Search" screen is transformed into a modern, type-safe React component using Replay’s output.

The Legacy Structure (Conceptual Natural)#

In the old world, the screen logic was often mixed directly with the I/O:

natural
INPUT (AD=M) 
  2/10 'Member ID:' #MEMBER-ID (AL=10)
  3/10 'Name:'      #NAME      (AL=30)
IF #MEMBER-ID NE ' '
  FIND MEMBERS-FILE WITH MEMBER-ID = #MEMBER-ID
...

The Modernized React Component#

Using Replay's Flows, the extraction process identifies the input fields, the validation logic, and the submission pattern to produce a clean TypeScript component.

typescript
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Button, Input, Card, Table } from '@/components/ui';
import { useMemberSearch } from '@/hooks/useMemberSearch';

/**
 * Modernized Member Search Component
 * Extracted from Natural/ADABAS Terminal Session
 * Target: Financial Services / Public Sector
 */
export const MemberSearch: React.FC = () => {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState({ memberId: '', name: '' });
  const { results, loading, executeSearch } = useMemberSearch();

  const handleSearch = async () => {
    await executeSearch(query);
  };

  return (
    <Card title="Member Administration" className="p-6">
      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-4 mb-6">
        <Input 
          label="Member ID" 
          value={query.memberId}
          onChange={(e) => setQuery({ ...query, memberId: e.target.value })}
          placeholder="e.g. 1002345"
        />
        <Input 
          label="Full Name" 
          value={query.name}
          onChange={(e) => setQuery({ ...query, name: e.target.value })}
          placeholder="e.g. Schmidt"
        />
      </div>
      <Button variant="primary" onClick={handleSearch} isLoading={loading}>
        Execute Query (PF3 Equivalent)
      </Button>
      
      {results.length > 0 && (
        <Table data={results} columns={['ID', 'Name', 'Status', 'Last Updated']} />
      )}
    </Card>
  );
};

The Replay Workflow: From Recording to Repository#

The process of natural adabas extraction modernizing via Replay follows a structured pipeline that ensures no business logic is lost in translation.

1. •Recording (Flows): A subject matter expert (SME) records their standard workflow in the Natural terminal. Replay captures the screen states, transitions, and data entries.
2. •Library Generation: Replay’s AI analyzes the recordings to identify recurring UI elements (grids, command lines, headers). These are converted into a standardized Design System.
3. •Blueprints & Logic: The platform generates "Blueprints"—intermediate representations of the UI logic. Here, developers can refine the mapping between the legacy ADABAS calls and modern REST or GraphQL APIs.
4. •Code Export: The final output is a production-ready React codebase, complete with documentation and unit tests.

For organizations in regulated industries, Replay's AI Automation Suite is built with SOC2 and HIPAA compliance in mind, and can even be deployed On-Premise to ensure that sensitive public sector data never leaves the secure environment.

Building the Modern Design System#

One of the biggest hurdles in natural adabas extraction modernizing is the lack of a cohesive design language. Legacy systems are "functional" but lack consistency. Replay automatically generates a Component Library based on the extracted screens.

Here is how a modernized theme configuration might look, derived from the visual extraction of a legacy government portal:

typescript
// theme-config.ts - Generated by Replay Library
export const PublicSectorTheme = {
  colors: {
    primary: '#0055A4', // Derived from Ministry Branding
    secondary: '#E5E7EB',
    danger: '#B91C1C',
    terminalGreen: '#22C55E', // Kept for legacy highlights
  },
  typography: {
    fontFamily: 'Inter, sans-serif',
    baseSize: '16px',
    mono: 'Fira Code, monospace', // Used for raw data views
  },
  spacing: {
    unit: 4,
    containerPadding: '2rem',
  },
  components: {
    Button: {
      borderRadius: '4px',
      padding: '10px 20px',
    }
  }
};

Overcoming the "18-Month" Rewrite Trap#

The average enterprise rewrite takes 18 months, but in the public sector, this often stretches to three years due to procurement and shifting requirements. By the time the new system is ready, the technology stack is already aging.

Natural adabas extraction modernizing through visual reverse engineering breaks this cycle. Instead of a "big bang" migration, agencies can modernize incrementally. They can record specific "Flows"—such as "Citizen Registration" or "Benefit Calculation"—and modernize those specific modules while keeping the rest of the ADABAS backend intact.

This "Strangler Fig" pattern is made significantly easier when you have a tool that can instantly document the existing UI. Legacy Modernization Strategies often emphasize the need for clear boundaries between the old and the new; Replay provides those boundaries by creating a clean React interface that communicates with the legacy system via a modernized API layer.

Security and Compliance in European Government#

For European agencies, data sovereignty is non-negotiable. Modernizing Natural/ADABAS systems requires a partner that understands the nuances of GDPR and local regulations.

According to Replay's analysis, one of the primary reasons natural adabas extraction modernizing projects stall is the fear of data exposure during the extraction phase. This is why Replay offers:

• •On-Premise Deployment: Run the entire extraction engine within your own data center.
• •SOC2 & HIPAA Readiness: Ensuring that the metadata captured during recording is handled with the highest security standards.
• •Zero Data Retention: Replay can be configured to process visual data without storing sensitive citizen information.

The Future of Mainframe-to-Cloud Transitions#

The ultimate goal of natural adabas extraction modernizing is often a full cloud migration. However, you cannot move to the cloud if you don't know what your applications are doing. Visual reverse engineering provides the "map" for the migration.

By converting the UI into React and the workflows into documented flows, you effectively decouple the user experience from the mainframe. This makes the eventual transition from ADABAS to a modern database like PostgreSQL or MongoDB a matter of swapping out the data layer, rather than rebuilding the entire application from scratch.

For more insights on this transition, see our guide on Mainframe to Cloud Migration.

Frequently Asked Questions#

Does Replay require access to my Natural source code?#

No. Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering to analyze the UI and user workflows. While having source code can be helpful for backend mapping, the primary natural adabas extraction modernizing process is driven by the visual output and user interaction patterns, making it ideal for systems with missing or obfuscated source code.

How does the 70% time savings calculation work?#

The 70% savings is based on the reduction of manual labor. Traditional modernization requires 40 hours per screen for analysis, design, coding, and testing. Replay automates the analysis and code generation phases, reducing the time to 4 hours per screen. Over a 200-screen application, this saves thousands of developer hours.

Can Replay handle complex terminal logic like PF keys and pop-up windows?#

Yes. Replay's "Flows" feature is specifically designed to capture non-linear navigation, including functional keys (PF1-PF12), modal-style pop-ups in terminal emulators, and complex multi-screen data entry sequences. It then maps these to modern React equivalents like modals, tabs, and keyboard shortcuts.

Is the generated React code maintainable?#

Absolutely. Unlike "black box" low-code tools, Replay outputs standard, human-readable TypeScript and React code. The components follow modern best practices, utilize your specified design system, and include documentation, ensuring your internal team can maintain and extend the code easily.

Conclusion#

The era of the "Green Screen" is ending, but the logic within those screens remains vital. Organizations that embrace natural adabas extraction modernizing through visual reverse engineering will find themselves years ahead of those stuck in the manual rewrite trap. By turning recordings into React, Replay provides a bridge from the mainframe past to a cloud-native future.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay