ProductsMapForceFlexText Parser

Altova MapForce® 2008 includes the unique FlexText utility for parsing flat files to integrate legacy text files with XML, databases, EDI, Excel 2007, and other flat file data in data integration and Web services applications.

Long before EDI and XML applications, text files were used as a way to exchange data between applications and computer systems. Even today, businesses employ software that can no longer be modified, but produces useful output in the form of mainframe text reports, text-based log files, and other legacy file types. The structure of flat files and text documents varies from application to application, making processing and integrating legacy text file data into modern computing environments with prevalent data formats such as XML, databases, and EDI, difficult.

The MapForce FlexText utility enables you to easily parse and convert text files, so that you can integrate this valuable legacy data with your current system(s).

FlexText is an extremely versatile graphical utility for parsing text files and incorporating legacy data in mapping designs. With its easy-to-use GUI, you can insert an existing text file and extract the portions of the file you want to expose to the MapForce mapping interface. FlexText produces a template that is then loaded into MapForce, where individual items can be mapped to any combination of XML, database, flat file, EDI, Excel 2007, and Web services data. By saving the configuration you create in FlexText, you can reuse the same template for multiple text files in multiple mappings.

FlexText allows you to create rules for text file templates in a visual manner. When you open a text file in the FlexText interface, the file is displayed in two blocks. The root block represents the original file, while the operation block to its right displays the data of the file as you perform operations to extract the data you need. You can change the names of these blocks to suit your file, for example, to change the name of the Root block to a name that describes the file you’re working with.

The result of every operation you make is visible in real time, so you can immediately see if you’ve achieved the desired result. With each operation you make, you can view the sample text that is created in either a sample text window at the bottom of the design pane or in a box next to the operation itself.

As you’re working, the FlexText overview window helps you visualize and navigate through the different operations performed on the file.

 View a Flash demo of FlexText converting legacy text files

FlexText allows you to isolate the data you need to access by removing non-relevant text, characters, and whitespace using split commands. Each split presents your data in two new blocks: one that contains the data you have split out, and another displays the modified view of your file. This way, you can immediately see the result of each operation you perform.

The split operation is highly configurable, allowing you to select fixed length or delimited (line based or floating) mode for each split. For a fixed length split, you specify the number of lines to remove working from either the head or the tail end of the text file. You can enter this number manually or simply drag the line selector bar to the desired location in the file. In delimited mode, you can choose from the standard separators (e.g., line feed, tab, comma, etc.) for each split or enter your own text-based delimiter. Both horizontal and vertical splits are supported.

In addition to splitting data, FlexText supports Node and Ignore operations for further flexibility in constructing the information tree that is exposed to the MapForce mapping interface. An Ignore operation marks a block of text as irrelevant for mapping purposes and instructs MapForce to ignore it. The Node operation creates a new node in the information tree in MapForce so that you can properly represent the hierarchical nature of your data when needed.

To extract content in different ways depending on information stored in the file, the Switch operation allows you to define multiple conditions for a single block of text. If data in the text file meets a condition, it is passed to the associated container for use in your MapForce mapping. If data does not meet a given condition, it is forwarded to the default container.

Very often, legacy text files contain useful data in CSV (comma-separated values) or FLF (fixed length field) formats embedded inside a more complex flat file format. To make the extraction process easier, FlexText gives you the ability to directly extract such data using the CSV and FLF operations. Once you have completed extracting the relevant portions of the text file using Split and other operations, you can store the remaining CSV- or FLF-formatted fields by configuring the field names, lengths, etc.

Now you can use the configuration you’ve created as the source or target of a MapForce mapping to map legacy text files to XML, databases, EDI, Excel 2007, Web services operations, and other data formats. Learn more about the other powerful MapForce flat file mapping capabilities.

Discover how easy it is to convert and integrate legacy text file data using the powerful MapForce® 2008 FlexText utility. Download a free trial of MapForce now!