MapForce Archives

Tag Archive for: MapForce

Data Mapping NCPDP SCRIPT

October 11, 2017/in Data Integration, Software /by David McGahey

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) standards allow participants with different roles in an industry to communicate clearly and rapidly, and date back to the earliest implementations of electronic communication in the 1950s, long before modern business technologies such as ERP, CRM, and many others. Yet even today, EDI standards continue to evolve to support new requirements and opportunities.

MapForce has long supported data mapping to and from ANSI X12, UN/EDIFACT and other popular EDI standards, and now in the latest release adds support for data mapping NCPDP SCRIPT.

SCRIPT is the state of the art EDI standard developed by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) for electronically transmitting medical prescriptions, also known as ePrescribing (eRX) in the United States.

Add to Your Collection of Development Building Blocks

October 3, 2017/in Development, Software, Tools, XML /by Erin Cavanaugh

When it comes to developing sophisticated software and data integration applications, the more building blocks a developer has at his or her disposal, the better. With each release of our developer and server software, we aim to provide customers with unique tools that give them the edge to get the job done – faster, and more efficiently.

To that end, Version 2018 delivers a unique HTTP testing window, 3-way file comparison functionality, support for SQL Templates, super-powered new server options, and much more.

Tags: DiffDog, MapForce, new features, XMLSpy

Support for JSON5 in Altova MissionKit, Server Products, and MobileTogether

June 28, 2017/in JSON, Tools /by David McGahey

Altova products have supported JSON for several years. Now, Version 2017 Release 3 of MissionKit and Server products, and MobileTogether Version 3.2 all include support for JSON5 across the product line.

The JSON data format was originally designed to be machine-written and consumed, promoting efficient communication between servers. Usage has expanded and JSON5 is a proposed extension intended to make JSON code easier for humans to write and read. JSON5 extends JSON by adding some ECMAScript 5 features and, like JSON, is a strict subset of JavaScript. Specifically, JSON5 permits inline and block comments, allows long strings to be split over several lines, and defines alternate legal syntax options for quotes and commas. These features are not permitted in standard JSON, so files containing the proposed enhancements are typically identified with the .json5 filename suffix.

This post details specific support for JSON5 in each Altova product.

Learn about JSON5 support in Altova tools

Use Join to Integrate Data in Any Format

April 18, 2017/in Data Integration, Tools /by David McGahey

Join is a powerful SQL operation implemented across most database types and familiar to database users. Join is typically used to select and combine information from multiple database tables.

Altova MapForce includes a join component for data mapping that works like a SQL join for database tables and extends data integration functionality by empowering users to join data trees of any data format. Anyone familiar with join operations for database tables will find the MapForce join component especially intuitive. A join operation in MapForce can even combine two different data formats and produce output in a new format altogether.

New XSLT Back-mapping Headlines Altova Release

April 5, 2017/in Development, JSON, XML, XSL /by Erin Cavanaugh

It’s time for the latest release of Altova desktop developer tools and server software products, and this one introduces numerous innovative features across the product line, including a brand-new version of MapForce Server called MapForce Server Accelerator Edition for even faster processing of data integration jobs.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of Version 2017 Release 3.

A Typical MapForce Server Use Case

March 2, 2017/in Data Integration, JSON, Tools /by David McGahey

Envision a manufacturing company that controls costs by exploiting a just-in-time assembly process with a very low supply of parts inventory on hand. New customer orders are logged in a sales database and at the end of every day the components needed to assemble that day’s sales are tabulated.

The IT department runs a SQL query to identify the required parts and transforms the list into a purchase order in JSON format to be transmitted to the supply chain.

Sound familiar? Our recent blog series on JSON tools and JSON data mapping were based on this real-life scenario. In this post we describe a MapForce Server use case that automates the repetitive task of generating each day’s purchase order.

JSON Data Mapping and Transformation with MapForce

February 15, 2017/in Data Integration, JSON, Tools /by David McGahey

JSON is a popular format for transferring data between systems thanks to its simple markup, small footprint, and heritage based on the JavaScript programming language. MapForce supports JSON as both an input and output format for JSON data mapping and transformation. For instance, MapForce can extract information from any popular database and produce a JSON file ready for transfer.
The Requirement: Here is an example of a typical need for JSON data mapping: A manufacturing company controls costs by exploiting a just-in-time assembly process with very little parts inventory on hand. New customer orders are logged in a sales database, and at the end of every day the components needed to assemble that day’s sales are tabulated via a query into the database. The required parts will be ordered from suppliers via a purchase order transferred in JSON format.

Tags: data mapping, JSON, MapForce, XMLSpy