Terminology
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Terminology |
Library
A Library is a collection of functions visible in the Libraries window. There are several types of functions, core and language specific, as well as user-defined and custom functions. Please see the section on functions for more details.
Component
In MapForce a component is a very generic "object". Almost all graphical elements you can insert/import or place in the Mapping tab, become components.
Components are recognizable by the small triangles they possess. These triangles (input and output icons) allow you to map data by creating a connection between them.
The following graphical elements are all components:
| • | All schema types: Source and target schemas |
| • | All database types: Source and target databases |
| • | All flat files: CSV and other text files |
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| • | All function types: XSLT/XSLT2, XQuery, Java, C#, and C++ functions, as well as Constants, Filters and Conditions |
Function
A function is basically an operation on data e.g. Concat. Functions have input and/or output parameters, where each parameter has its own input/output icon. Functions are available in the Libraries window, and are logically grouped. Dragging a function into the Mapping window creates a function component. Please see the section Functions and Libraries for more details.
Item
An item is the unit of data that can be mapped from component to component. An item can be either an element, an attribute, a database field.
Each item has an input and output icon which allows you to map data from one item to another. It is not mandatory that items be of the same type (element or attribute) when you create a mapping between them.
"Missing" item:
If items have been deleted from one of the components, e.g. a schema element/attribute is deleted from an XML schema, MapForce automatically creates placeholder items and retains the previous connectors.
Input, Output icon
The small triangles visible on components are input and output icons. Clicking an icon and dragging, creates a connector which connects to another icon when you "drop" it there. The connector represents a mapping between the two sets of data the icons represent. Please see the section "Mapping between components" for more information.
Connector
The connector is the line that joins two icons. It represents the mapping between the two sets of data the icons represent. Please see the section "Mapping between components" for more information.
Several types of connector can be defined:
| • | Target Driven (Standard) connectors, see: "source-driven / mixed content vs. standard mapping" |
| • | Copy-all connectors, please see "Copy-all connections" |
| • | Source Driven (mixed content) connectors, see "source driven and mixed content mapping" |
A constant is a component that supplies fixed data to an input icon. The data is entered into a dialog box when creating, or double clicking, the component. There is only one output icon on a constant function. You can select from the following types of data: Number, and All other (String).
A filter is a component that uses two input and output parameters: node/row and bool, and on-true, on-false. If the Boolean is true, then the value/content of the node/row parameter is forwarded to the on-true parameter.
The on-false output parameter, outputs the complement node set defined by the mapping, please see Multiple target schemas / documents for more information.
The SQL-WHERE component allows you to filter database data conditionally. Double clicking the component allows you to enter the SQL-WHERE statement. The SQL WHERE component is comprised of two parts:
| • | The Select statement that is automatically generated when you connect to a database table |
| • | The WHERE clause that you manually enter in the SQL WHERE Select text box. Note that the foreign keys are automatically included in the select statement. |
The Value-Map component allows you to transform a set of input data, into a different set of output data, using a type of lookup table. Double clicking the component, opens the value map table. The left column of the table defines the input, while the right column defines the transformed data you want to output.
A condition is a component which allows you to pass on different sets of data depending on the outcome of a preset condition. The component header displays the text if-else. Please see Condition, in the Reference section for an example.
| • | The first input parameter is a bool, which contains the data you are checking against. |
| • | The value-true input parameter supplies the data to be passed on, as a result, if the condition is true. |
| • | The value-false supplies the data to be passed on if the condition is false. |
| • | The result parameter outputs the data supplied by the value-true/false input parameters. |
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