Overview

In this section:

The Mapping Builder is a graphical editor that uses mapping types to specify how records and fields of one document structure relate to another. It is identified by the Mappings tab and allows you to design mapping rules for Transform and Ebix Entry projects. Mappings between individual nodes contained in structures of incoming and outgoing data are accomplished quickly and easily via drag and drop operations. The Mapping Builder interface supports one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-one mapping relationships, referring to the fields in the input and output documents respectively. The multiple mapping layouts that are available for Ebix Entry projects are represented in the Mapping Builder as a multi-tab view, where each tab is associated with a type of mapping, for example, XML to SWIFT and SWIFT to XML.
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Mappings Tab

The Mappings tab is the default display for a Transform project and is your workspace for building a Transform project. For Ebix Entry projects, two-way mappings are used in the Mappings tab for transforming your e-business message to and from XML.

The following information is available in the Mappings tab:

The following image shows the Mappings tab layout, which includes the panes that display the input and output mapping rules of a project.

The Mappings tab includes the following panes to display mapping-related information systematically:

When working with structures, you can perform the following tasks:

The following menus let you easily perform various mapping-related tasks:
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Reference: Input Node Workspace Menu

Right-clicking an input node in the workspace displays the menu options that are available for the nodes in the Input pane. You can expand or collapse the node within the structure tree, copy the node, and show or hide mappings between input and output nodes. The following image shows the options available from the Input Node menu.

The following table lists and describes the Input Nodes menu options.

Option

Description

Expand

Expands the node currently selected in the structure tree, revealing the nested structure of its sub-nodes.

Collapse

Collapses the node currently selected in the structure tree.

Copy

Copies the selected input node and enables you to paste it in the output.

Auto-Map

Maps input structure as a root of the output structure. A confirmation dialog box displays when this option is selected. This option is available only in the Mappings tab.

Show/Hide Mappings

Toggles between showing and hiding the mapping lines between the input and output structures. This option is available only in the Mappings tab.
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Reference: Output Node Workspace Menu

Right-clicking an output node in the workspace displays the menu options that are available for the nodes in the Output pane. The following image shows the options available from the Output Node menu.

Note: The options that are available in the Output Node menu depend on which node is currently selected in the Output pane.

Note that certain options can be disabled depending on the type and position of the output node in the structure (for example, group, element, or attribute) or the data format (for example, XML or EDI X12).

The Add and Change Type option lists are dynamic and also depend on the type of the output node and the output data format.

The following table lists and describes the options available from the Output Node menu.

Option

Description

Add

Enables you to construct the existing output structure by adding a structure node. The following types of structure nodes are supported:

  • Group
  • Element
  • Attribute (for XML format only)
  • Comment (for XML format only)
  • Content (for XML format only)
  • CDATA (for XML format only)
  • iWay XML Request

    (Available only when the output type is iWay XML Request.)

  • iWay Embedded XML Request

    (Available only when the output type is iWay embedded XML Request.)

    Note: Refer to the Add submenu of a particular node for the list of enabled node types you are permitted to add to it. The values of available node types are enabled or disabled according to the mapping rules for your output data format. For example, if the XML data format is used, the only available types of nodes you can add to an element type of node would be an attribute node or a CDATA node.

Set to Root

Use this element to represent the root of the document structure tree. This option is not available for record-based data formats, such as CSV. This option is available only for the nodes of type Group, because this is the only type of node that is permitted to perform the root functionality.

Change Type

Enables you to change the type of the node to one of the following:

  • Group
  • Element
  • Attribute
  • Comment
  • Content
  • CDATA

For more information, see Output Structure.

Move Up

Moves the selected node up the output structure tree, under the same parent node.

Move Down

Moves the selected node down the output structure tree, under the same parent node.

Cut

Cuts the selected output node, making it available for paste output operation.

Copy

Enables you to copy the selected node to a location determined by the user.

Paste Output

Pastes the cut or copied output node.

Paste Input

Pastes the cut or copied input node.

Expand

Expands the selected node, revealing the nested structure of its sub-nodes.

Collapse

Collapses the selected node, hiding the nested structure of its sub-nodes.

Delete

Removes a node from the Output structure. A confirmation dialog box appears for this option.

Remove All Output Items

Removes all output nodes from the output structure. This option is available only in the Mapping Builder.

Rename

Enables you to rename the selected output structure node. This operation is also available if you double-click the name of the node.

Auto-Map

Maps input structure as a root of the output structure. A confirmation dialog box displays when this option is selected for the root node of the structure.

Show/Hide Mappings

Toggles between showing and hiding the mapping lines between the input and output nodes. The mappings signify the relationships between input and output node where the particular input value is used to construct the value of the output node.

Properties

Opens the Properties dialog box, which shows the layout and structural information pertaining to the selected structure node. For more information on this dialog box, see Group Properties.
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Reference: Mapping Values Menu

Right-clicking a mapping value node in the workspace displays the menu options that are available for the nodes in the Mapping Values pane. The following image shows the options available from the Mapping Values menu.

The following table lists and describes the options available from the Mapping Values menu.

Option

Description

Edit

Opens the Output Node Mapping Builder window, which enables you to modify the mapping value by changing an input node it maps to, or adding a function, constant, or expression to the existing mapping.

For more information on how to use the Output Node Mapping Builder, see Using Functions.

Move Up

Moves the selected mapping value up the output structure tree under the same parent Group node.

Move Down

Moves the selected mapping value down the output structure tree under the same parent Group node.

Copy

Copies the selected mapping value.

Paste

Pastes a copied or cut mapping value.

Delete

Removes the selected mapping value.

Show/Hide Mappings

Toggles between showing and hiding the mapping lines between the input and output structures.

Note: It is the layout and mapping of the output structure and not the actual data values, that you design and which appear in the Output pane of the Mappings tab. After the structure is defined, you must assign values for the output nodes in the Mapping Values pane, using tools described in Mapping Values.
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Input Structure

The input structure contains the input, which represents the groups, elements, and attributes encoded in the input document. Each node in this tree has exactly one parent, and may have more than one child.

The following table lists and describes the various components provided in Transformer to represent input nodes. In addition, definitions for basic terms commonly used for nodes within an input document tree are provided.

Input Document

The incoming document or message to which transformations apply. The following formats are supported:

Note: The CDF format is deprecated; iWay Software recommends using Fixed Width instead.

The input document is displayed on the input pane as a logical tree of component nodes, such as groups or elements. For more information, see the Input Document Tree description on the following page. Each input node contains a name that identifies the type of the node, optionally a number of attributes, or content.

Group

Block of data that has a group element as its root. It can contain other groups or elements nested within (as children). Multiple groups can also exist on the same level. A group was formerly called a parent.

Element

Usually belongs to the group as a leaf, which cannot have any other nested groups or elements.

Attribute

Value associated with a group or element, consisting of a name, and an associated (textual) value. Attributes are used for XML input only. Each group or element can have zero to many attributes.

Input Document Tree

Sample tree of groups, elements, and attributes encoded in the input document. Each node in this tree has exactly one parent, and may have more than one child.

The following is a section of an XML input document:

The following is a tree structure representation of this:

In Transformer, the resulting input document tree is shown as follows:

Parent

The input can have more than one parent (root group). Parent is a group in relation to the elements or groups contained within it. In the example above, the group, Company is a parent of two elements, Year and Quarter.

Child

A node A is called the child of node B if and only if B is the parent of A. In the example above, the element, Year is a child of the Company group.

Descendant

A node A is called a descendant of a node B, if either (1) A is a child of B, or (2) A is the child of some node C that is a descendant of B.

Ancestor

A node A is called an ancestor of a node B, if and only if B is a descendant of A.

Sibling

A node A is called a sibling of a node B, if and only if B and A share the same parent. Node A is a preceding sibling if it comes before B in the input document tree. Node B is a following sibling if it comes after A in the input document tree.
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Output Structure

The output structure contains the output, which represents the completed structure of groups, elements, and other supported node types, such as attributes or CDATA, encoded in the output document. Each node in this tree has exactly one parent group. It can have sibling nodes, unless it is the root node in the tree, which is unique according to the mapping rules in Transformer. The properties of the node, such as visibility, can be adjusted to affect its appearance in the actual output document.

In the following image, the table that is generated in the Test Transform tab as you run the Transform project is shown on the left and the HTML output is shown on the right:

The output has a structure that can be represented as follows:

In Transformer, the output document tree is represented as follows in the Output pane of the Mappings tab:

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