Graphical data mapping overview

A graphical data map (.map files) graphically represents your input and output message data. Use drag actions to make connections, select transforms, and build logic to transform your message data without programming.

Database tables can be set as additional outputs of the graphical data map when using database Insert, Update, or Delete transforms.

For information about the supported transform types, see Transform types in the Graphical Data Mapping editor.

The logic to derive values can be simple or complex. In addition to the transformation operations that set a target value, structural transforms are provided to enable conditional statements, loops, and nesting of transform logic into local maps.

You can also create a reusable form of map known as a submap. Submaps allow you to use a set of mapping functions in multiple maps to transform a common set of elements in the input object to the output object.

Local maps are navigation aids that allow you to view the map elements in a hierarchical way. They provide a way of breaking up a large map into nested groups of mapping elements and processing the complex elements of the whole data object. Local maps are a partial view of a larger map, rather than separate files, which means that they are not reusable in the way that submaps are.

You must have a database definition file (.dbm file) in an available Data Design project for each database that you want to access or modify in a graphical data map transform. You can launch the wizard to create a database definition file when you create a database transform in a graphical data map.

When you have created your graphical data map, you can test it by using the Test Map facility in the Graphical Data Mapping editor. You can use a sample input file to ensure that the map is mapping correctly.