Patent ID: 7272824

Claim:
An automated method comprising the steps of: receiving an application software program configured for execution by a first application server system; migrating said application software program to a second application server system by adapting external arguments for said software program to be compatible with said second application server system by: (a) upon invocation of said application software program providing one or more arguments to be passed into said application software program by said second application server system, said arguments being coupled in flag and value pairs; (b) using an argument descriptor file provided by said second application server system to said application software program to determine if each flag and value pair provided is a valid flag and value pair; (c) responsive to validating said flag and value pairs, loading by said application software program said flags and values into a key/value dictionary; (d) passing said loaded dictionary from said second application server system to said software program such that the software application program may access the values within the dictionary; and (e) determining from said argument descriptor file one or more mandatory flag and value pairs, verifying that all said mandatory flag and value pairs are present, and responsive to finding a missing mandatory flag and value pair, disabling execution of said software program.