New in MapForce 2023 Release 2

Version 2023 Release 2 of Altova MapForce was announced on April 12, 2023. Learn about all the new features below and update to the latest version.

MapForce® 2023r2 (April 12, 2023)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for VDA EDI messages
Support for comments in data mapping projects
Support for standalone =“yes” declaration in XML output
Support for additional EDIFACT version: 2022B
Support for Firebird 4, PostgreSQL 15, SQL Server 2022
Integration with Eclipse 4.26, 4.27

See new MapForce features, including VDA EDI support and comments in data mapping projects, in action in this quick demo video.

Support for VDA EDI messages

VDA stands for Verband der Automobilindustrie, the German Automotive Industry Association. VDA EDI messages are used for sending planning schedule information between customers and suppliers. Though this legacy format is no longer being maintained by a standards body, many companies in the automotive industry still use the messages for information exchange. MapForce users may need to map and convert between VDA messages and other EDI formats, XML, databases, and so on.

In response to customer requests, MapForce now supports the following popular VDA messages: 4905, 4907, 4908, 4913, 4916, and 4921.

Comments in data mapping projects

In addition to support for annotating individual connections in data mapping projects, it is now possible to add comments to source and target components to aid in documenting what a mapping does and how it is implemented.

Adding comments to MapForce data mapping projects

Support for standalone =“yes” declaration in XML output

In a standalone document declaration, the value "yes" indicates that the document is self-contained, and there are no external declarations required for parsing the document. When creating data transformation projects in MapForce, it is now possible to generate the standalone="yes" declaration in the XML declaration of XML target files. This is now an option in the component settings dialog.

Standalone declaration in XML document

Support for additional EDIFACT version: 2022B

MapForce 2023r2 supports the latest version of EDIFACT EDI, in addition to previous versions.

Support for additional database versions

MapForce now supports the latest versions of the following relational databases in addition to previous versions:

  • Firebird 4
  • PostgreSQL 15
  • SQL Server 2022

Integration with latest Eclipse versions

MapForce can be integrated in the Eclipse IDE, with support added for the latest versions:

  • Eclipse 4.26
  • Eclipse 4.27
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Existing customers may update to the latest version here
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New Features in Previous Versions

Learn about all the additional capabilities you’ll get by upgrading from an older version to MapForce Version 2024.

MapForce® 2023 (October 19, 2022)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Integrated Altova XML Schema Manager
Light and Dark modes
Support for ODETTE EDI messages
Support for additional EDIFACT versions: 2021B, 2022A
Support for additional SWIFT version: 2022
Ability to dynamically set EDI separators and terminators
Support for additional database versions
Integration with Eclipse 4.23, 4.24, 4.25
MapForce® 2022r2 (March 8, 2022)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for MongoDB clusters
Support XBRL Filing Indicators
Support for images in the Project Window
Code generation for Visual Studio 2022 and .NET 6
Support for additional database versions
Integration with Visual Studio 2022
Integration with Eclipse 4.22
MapForce® 2022 (October 27, 2021)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for NoSQL databases
Support for Windows 11
Variables based on JSON Schema
Copy-all connections for JSON structures
Support for additional EDI versions
Support for additional database versions
Integration with Eclipse 4.19, 4.20, and 4.21
MapForce® 2021r3 (June 1, 2021)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for JSON Schema versions 2019-09, 2020-12
MapForce® 2021r2 (March 4, 2021)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for XSLT 3 generation
C# code generation for .NET Core and .NET 5
Updated support for IBM DB2 for iSeries 7.4
Integration with Eclipse 4.17 and 4.18
MapForce® 2021 (October 14, 2020)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for SWIFT messages
Conversion of EDI to XML without mapping
Arbitrary location of EDI configuration files
Support for SQL left outer join
Dynamic assignment of URLs for REST Web services at runtime
Read/write binary files
XBRL Taxonomy Manager
COVID-19 related XBRL taxonomy updates
Updated support for MariaDB
Integration with Eclipse 4.15 and 4.16
MapForce® 2020r2 (March 17, 2020)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
For Excel output: new option to update existing documents
All new library management system
New namespace options in generated code (C++, C#, Java)
Extended UN/EDIFACT support for 2019A & 2019B
Support for additional database versions
Integration with Eclipse 4.13 and 4.14
MapForce® 2020 (October 9, 2019)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for OAuth 2.0 in Web services calls
Support for JSON Lines
Value Map configuration via copy/paste
Extended Value Map options
Database schema independency
Extended support for Oracle packages
Ability to deploy Global Resources to MapForce Server & FlowForce Server
Support for additional database versions
Code gen for & integration with Visual Studio 2019
Integration with Eclipse 4.11 and 4.12
MapForce® 2019r3 (April 2, 2019)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
MapForce is going sharp - full support for high resolution monitors
Support for JSON Schema draft-06 and draft-07
Handling of Web services errors
Dynamic username and password for Web services
Support for unstructured request/response bodies in REST Web services
Database output logging (tracing)
Transaction roll-back for database error handling
New functions: charset-encode / charset-decode
Support for additional database versions
Support for EDIFACT 2018B
Updated OpenJDK support
Support for Windows Server 2019
Support for Office 2019
Support for Eclipse 4.9 and 4.10
MapForce® 2019 (October 17, 2018)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for mapping Protocol Buffers
Additional functionality for node functions
Support for EDIFACT 2017B, 2018A
Support for additional database versions
Support for Eclipse 4.8
MapForce® 2018 Release 2 (April 17, 2018)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Node functions
JSON support in C# and Java code generation
Quick insert of functions and constants
Support for Teradata 16 and MariaDB 10 databases
Detailed network proxy settings
MapForce® 2018 (October 3, 2017)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
NCPDP SCRIPT support
Easily insert or remove columns in Excel mappings
Significant speed improvement in the XSLT engine
Generate code for VS2013, VS2015, and VS2017
Support for Sybase 16, PostgreSQL 9.6, MySQL 5.7
Integration with Eclipse 4.7
MapForce® 2017 Release 3 (April 4, 2017)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
New Join component for all data types
Support for NULL values in database table actions
New Find bar
Support for JSON5 syntax
Integration with Visual Studio 2017
Windows Server 2016 Support
MapForce® 2017 (October 4, 2016)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Dynamic access to node names for generic mappings
Update-If and Insert-Rest database table actions performed as SQL Merge when possible
Support for EDIFACT versions 2015B and 2016A including the new VERMAS message
Support for inline XBRL files as a mapping source
Ability to add namespace nodes to XML output
MapForce Debugger is now available within Eclipse and Visual Studio integration packages
Support for XBRL taxonomy packages
Enhanced database support – support for ADO.NET database drivers, native support for PostgreSQL, support for Progress OpenEdge, support for SQL Server 2016
Support for integration with Eclipse 4.6
MapForce® 2016 release 2 (February 16, 2016)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for REST Web services, including parameters and authentication settings
Significant speedup of EDI mappings processed by the Built-in Execution Engine
Support for integration with Eclipse 4.5
MapForce® 2016 (September 30, 2015)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Interactive data mapping debugger
Support for Firebird databases
Support for numerous databases updated to include newest versions: IBM DB2 10.5, SQL Server 2014, PostgreSQL 9.4, MySQL 5.6, and Oracle 12C
Visual Studio integration updated to include VS 2015
Windows 10 support
New functions: min-string and max-string
MapForce® 2015 release 4 (June 10, 2015)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for TRADACOMS EDI standards
MapForce® 2015 release 3 (February 25, 2015)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
String processing as XML, JSON, EDI, CSV, FLF, and FlexText, for both input and output components
FlexText support for regular expressions
Support for SQLite databases
Support for Web Services Security and other security extensions
Support for Excel 2013 files
New string processing functions pad-string-left, pad-string-right, repeat-string
Support for EDIFACT D.14A and D.14B and X12 5040, 6030, and 6040 standards – adds to existing support
MapForce® 2015 (September 17, 2014)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
JSON support – Read and write JSON files, with functionality similar to XML files, for both input and output components
XBRL Table Linkbase Support – When processing XBRL instances user can now map Table Linkbases, if available in the taxonomy
Support for US GAAP 2014 XBRL taxonomy – Adds to support for previous versions
New function replicate-item – A new sequence function that allows a mapping to produce a sequence of an arbitrary length from every single node
New Flextext option for Single Split "delimited (line starts with)" – Similar to the Repeated Split option that has been available in previous versions
Support for integration with Eclipse 4.4 – Adds to support for previous versions
Support for German, Spanish, and Japanese languages in format-date function
MapForce® 2014 Release 2 (March 19, 2014)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for CDATA generation in XML files – Target nodes may be specified individually for generation as CDATA
New functions for processing and generating sequences – New functions allow bulk processing of sequences, including generate-sequence, replicate-sequence and more
Timeout settings for Web service calls and database execution – Define timeouts for Web service calls (Enterprise Edition only) and database sources
Improved mapping validation and editing help – Mapping validation error message have been improved to enable quick identification of mapping errors
Support for integration with Visual Studio 2013 (adds to support for previous versions)
MapForce® 2014 (October 29, 2013)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for XML wildcards (xs:any and xs:anyAttribute).
Integration of RaptorXML – RaptorXML is now used for all XSLT 1, XSLT 2 and XQuery transformations in MapForce.
Support for comments and processing instructions in output XML.
New function to calculate age based on a birthdate – Simplifies this calculation compared to using dateTime functions.
Support for new databases – Preliminary support announced in v2013r2 is now upgraded to full support implemented across the MissionKit product line.
Support for integration with Eclipse 4.3.
MapForce® 2013 Release 2 (April 29, 2013)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Deploy to FlowForce Server functionality – Makes it easy to deploy mapping projects to FlowForce Server for automation.
Preliminary support for new databases and database versions: Informix 11.70, PostgreSQL versions 9.0.10/9.1.6/9.2.1, MySQL 5.5.28, IBM DB2 versions 9.5/9.7/10.1, SQL Server 2012, Sybase ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise) 15/15.7, and Access 2010/2013
MapForce® 2013 (September 15, 2012)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for SQL stored procedures – MapForce 2013 now supports stored procedures as input components, output components, or even inserted into a mapping as a function-like call (allowing users to provide input data, execute the stored procedure, and read/map the output data to other components).
New API for integration into Java programs – Java developers working with popular Java tools for Windows platforms can now execute MapForce inside a window within their own application.
Support for US GAAP 2012 XBRL taxonomy – adds to support for earlier versions, enabling users to comply with the latest SEC revision of financial and business reporting mandates.
Support for integration with Eclipse 4.2 – adds to support for earlier versions, allowing developers to implement all the data mapping, content conversion, Web services implementation, and code generation capabilities of MapForce from within the latest version of the Eclipse environment.
MapForce® 2012 Release 2 (February 23, 2012)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Sort input data by various criteria – Saves a step for users who require large datasets to be sorted as part of a data mapping task.
Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databases – Users can map data both to and from logical files in IBM iSeries databases.
MapForce® 2012 (October 19, 2011)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Streaming reading for large XML, CSV, and FLF files and databases – Allows mappings to process arbitrarily large XML, CSV, and FLF input files by using a streaming processor approach.
New functions parse-date and parse-time – Easier than the existing parse-dateTime function when data in an input stream defines only the date or time, not both.
Visual alignment guides on mapping screen – Allows users to create more clearly organized mapping displays.
JDBC database driver support – Improves database connectivity for many users.
New Java API – Allows Java developers to more easily manipulate, customize, and enhance MapForce functionality.
Search in Project Window – Helps users manage organization of large projects.
MapForce® 2011 Release 3 (June 8, 2011)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Define multiple ranges in a single Excel worksheet – Significantly increases flexibility of mapping designs.
Native Support for HIPAA 5010 – Support for a new EDI collection dedicated to HIPAA 5010, the latest version of the standard for electronic health care records established by the US Department of Health and Human Services for electronic medical data transactions between insurers, providers, and employers.
Auto-generation of message 999 for X12 version 5010 – Starting with version 5010, the X12 standard requires message 999 instead of 997 for error reporting.
Command line extensions – HTML/Word/PDF files can be generated in post-processing by StyleVision, similar to the interactive mode.
Support for .NET 4 in built-in execution – Users may now add external .NET 4 functions for immediate processing by MapForce.
Save individual values or entire sub-trees in intermediate variables – An optional feature to simplify and speed up mapping definitions.
Support for XML signatures on output – Optionally apply an XML digital signature to XML and XBRL output documents.
MapForce® 2011 Release 2 (February 16, 2011)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Direct file output (data streaming) – gives ETL projects a huge performance boost with the ability to stream XML, CSV, and FLF file output.
Expandable if-else component (switch statement) – enables users to easily control the flow of data in their mapping projects by matching a value to a selected criterion.
Ability to process different EDI message types in a single mapping – allows users to define multiple EDI mappings in a single design so that MapForce can automatically determine a suitable mapping based on the incoming message that has been received.
Support for the IATA PADIS EDI format.
Reverse existing mapping – lets users automatically reverse the direction of mappings that they have already created.
Ability to execute SQL statements prior to database output – enables users to execute SQL statements before the result of their database mappings is written to database tables.
New parsing functions – parse-number and parse-dateTime.
New function to retrieve node name – returns the QName of the selected node.
Ability to search Function Library.
Documentation formatting with StyleVision – lets users customize detailed reports for mapping verification and analysis.
MapForce® 2011 (September 8, 2012)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Chained transformations – enables users to create complex mappings in which the output of one mapping becomes the input of another.
Integration with StyleVision for output components – lets MapForce users automatically render results of their XML and XBRL mappings in HTML, PDF, RTF, or Word 2007+ (depending on StyleVision edition) using an associated StyleVision template design.
Formatting of numbers, dates, and times – enables MapForce users to easily convert numbers, dates, and times to their string representations using a variety of different formatting functions.
Two new parameters in auto-number function – lets MapForce users access the same auto-number counter in different parts of their mappings and restart counting every time the supplied value changes.
Functions for working with timezones.
Extended support for EDIFACT – support has been extended to include 08B, 09A, and 09B messages.
Extended support for X12 – support has been extended to include the 6010 and 6020 transaction sets.
MapForce® 2010 Release 3 (May 10, 2010)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
MSXML6 support in C++.
64-bit code generation in C++.
Support for xsi:nil in XML Schema.
Support for mapping field names (headers) in Excel 2007+.
Ability to preserve value formatting in XML output – allows users to ensure that formatting is maintained from source to target.
Support for SAP IDoc.
Support for Visual Studio 2010.
MapForce® 2010 Release 2 (February 16, 2010)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
64-bit version – for use with 64-bit operating systems.
New string functions: tokenize, tokenize-regexp, tokenize-by-length.
Automatic reassignment of child connections – enables users to automatically reassign descendent element mappings when a parent element is mapped to a new connection.
Automatic generation of X12 997 messages – lets users automatically create mappings to X12 functional acknowledgment messages.
Support for external C# and Java calls – allows users to use external C# and Java functions in mapping transformations inside MapForce.
Simplified process for adding C# and Java libraries.
MapForce® 2010 (October 28, 2009)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Processing data from/into multiple files – enables users to easily consolidate file collections by aggregating data from a directory into one file or split data from one source into multiple files.
Using input/output file names as parameters – lets users generate dynamic mappings in which this information is defined at run-time.
Support for xsi:type in XML Schema – allows users to incorporate schemas that use abstract and derived types in their mapping projects.
EDI file validation in generated code – lets users validate the EDI output in MapForce-generated code.
Support for additional EDIFACT messages – provides integrated access to configuration files for the control messages: CONTRL, AUTACK, and KEYMAN.
Support for WSDL 2.0 – lets users use the WSDL 2.0 recommendation from the W3C for building and connecting to Web services.
Compatibility with Windows 7.
MapForce® 2009 (February 3, 2009)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for XBRL taxonomies & XBRL Dimensions – enables users to comply with financial and business reporting mandates by graphically mapping internal data to the XBRL format.
Support for HL7 v2 EDI – allows healthcare organizations to comply with international mandates for the secure transmission of clinical data.
Support for HL7 v3 XML – allows HL7 users to update their messages and transmission data to the latest version of the standard.
Support for grouping – enables users to combine source data in groups for output and then apply processing instructions to those groups, essentially transforming flat data into a hierarchical structure.
Distinct-values function – allows users to automatically remove duplicate values from the result-set of a mapping.
Position function – gives users the ability to return output based on the context position of data in the input document.
Documentation generation – enables designers and data integration specialists to share and confirm the accuracy of their mappings with other departments and/or customers.
Find dialog for identifying nodes – allows users to search for specific nodes within mapping components.
Native support for XML fields in SQL Server – lets users expose XML data in SQL Server database fields for mapping by assigning an XML Schema to the data in that field.
Support for additional databases – SQL Server 2008, Oracle 11g, and PostgreSQL 8.
MapForce® 2008 Release 2 (April 28, 2008)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Mapping Excel 2007+ (OOXML) data.
Support for data streams for code generation.
Sample XML Schema generation based on an XML instance.
Support for SOAP 1.2.
Support for SQL SELECT statements.
Inline Primary Key / Foreign Key creation.
Project generation for Visual Studio 2008.
MapForce® 2008 (September 12, 2007)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Support for aggregate functions: SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG, STRING-JOIN – allows users to perform computations on a range of data within a source field and return a single value to the target.
ValueMap function for transforming field values – allows users to build a MapForce data processing function that maps one field value to another to ensure that values are written to the mapping target in the desired style.
Enhanced options for XML output – including options for pretty printing, omitting schema references, and changing and setting encoding options.
MapForce® 2007 Release 3 (May 30, 2007)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Seamless integration of XML fields in databases in mapping components – users can map XML data directly to and from XML-enabled databases by assigning an XML Schema to the data (for IBM DB2 9 only in this version).
Enhanced database connectivity – via a quick connect wizard to easily access, preview, and integrate database data.
Extended data filtering functionality – MapForce now supports the SQL-WHERE filter, which allows for precise, high-performance filtering of database sources used in data mapping projects.
Redesigned and optimized code generation.
MapForce® 2007 (October 24, 2006)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Enhanced Web services support – Web services can be a source, target, or data processing function in any mapping project.
Improved editing of existing mappings – added visual cues and support for refactoring mappings when source or target data structures change.
Tighter Visual Studio integration – for integrating the MapForce user interface and functionality into Microsoft’s premier multi-purpose development environment.
MapForce® 2006 Release 3 (June 1, 2006)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Added integration with Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse – allows developers to directly harness all the data mapping, content conversion, Web services implementation, and code generation capabilities of MapForce from within their favorite platforms.
Enhanced EDI Transaction Set Editing – allowed users to easily modify and extend existing standard EDI transaction sets (i.e. EDIFACT and ANSI X12 messages) to meet business requirements.
More Versatile Visual Function Builder – enabled visual creation of data processing functions that can operate on entire XML tree fragments, allowing for better modularization and scalability of mapping projects.
Options for Handling Empty Flat File Values – provided ability for developers to choose whether empty fields in flat files are rendered as empty elements or not rendered at all in the data results of the mapping target.
MapForce® 2006 (October 3, 2005)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Introduced Visual Web Services Construction – developers can simply map between operations in Web Services Description Language (WSDL) transactions by dragging connecting lines between data sources and WSDL operations.
Supported Web Services Implementation – auto-generate required C# or Java code for implementing Web services on a server after mappings have been defined for the transactions in a WSDL file.
FlexText™ Flat File Parsing – a graphical utility for parsing structured text files and incorporating legacy data into mapping designs
Project Management and Code Generation – enabled grouping of related data mappings and Web services mappings into a project, then allows automatic code generation either for individual mappings or for the entire project.
Enhanced Standards Support – updated XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery support in compliance with then-current World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Working Drafts released on September 15, 2005.
Textual Annotation – simplified documentation of mapping projects with the ability to add annotations to mapping connections
Support for OLE and ActiveX Control – allowed developers to embed the MapForce user interface and access all its functionality from within their own applications
Introduced three editions – tailored to meet customers’ specific Web services and data integration needs: MapForce 2006 Basic Edition supports XML-to-XML mappings,MapForce 2006 Professional Edition supports XML, database, and basic flat file data mappings, MapForce 2006 Enterprise Edition supports all the features of MapForce 2006 Professional Edition with the addition of Web services mapping and implementation, EDI mapping, and the FlexText flat file integration utility.
MapForce® 2005 release 3 (March 9, 2005)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
EDI Output – enabled the use of EDI files in the ANSI/ASC X12 and UN/EDIFACT standards as output targets of complex data mappings. This capability expands MapForce’s previous support of EDI files as input sources.
ANSI X12 Standard Support – provided full support for all the transaction sets covered by X12, the de facto EDI standard used in North America for electronic business transactions. Files based on the X12 standard can be used as both mapping sources and targets.
Extended EDIFACT Coverage – supported EDIFACT configuration files for all years starting with 93a through 04b.
Unlimited Function Input Parameters – allowed the use of unlimited parameters in several data processing functions, such as concatenate, add, and multiply, when using MapForce’s visual function builder. This feature made it easier for developers to perform mathematical manipulations and concatenate multiple parameters
Mixed Content Mapping Support – accommodated mapping of mixed XML elements, such as text and sub-elements
Accommodation of Null Values – enabled mappings of XML files and databases to use default values when sources have absent or null values, but targets must receive content
MapForce® 2005 (October 3, 2004)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
XSLT 2.0 Code Generation – introduced auto-generation of program code required to execute XML mappings and transformations using the new XSLT 2.0 specification.
XQuery Code Generation – added auto-generation of program code required to execute intelligent querying of XML documents and databases via the new XQuery 1.0 specification.
Flat File Support – added the ability to use CSV, tab-separated, or fixed-width text files as the sources and/or targets of data mappings.
Visual Function Builder – enabled the creation and reuse of custom mapping transformation and data processing functions.
Transformation Input Parameters – allowed the input of outside parameters for use in mapping transformations at runtime.
MapForce® 2004 Release 4 (May 17, 2004)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Introduced two editions – Enterprise and Professional.
Greatly enhanced mapping functionality – provides the ability to map any combination of XML, database, and EDI data into XML and/or databases
Added database support – now supports all the most popular relational databases: Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase, as well as any ADO/ODBC database
Introduced MapForce Engine – enabled the user to preview the output of any mapping project even if one or more of the sources is a database or an EDI file, or if the target is a database.
Allowed users add existing XSLT files as libraries – all named templates in those files automatically become available as data transformation functions.
MapForce® 2004 Release 3 (October 21, 2003)EnterpriseProfessionalBasic
Introduced code generation in C# and C++.
Supported visual mapping of Database Views to XML.
Numerous usability enhancements including zoom, copy & paste, printing, autohighlighting of connections, and much more.
Update
Existing customers may update to the latest version here
Download
Download a fully functional, free 30 day trial of any Altova product now!