QuickTour
Transformations in the XCS eiPlatform and XCS eiConsole are built using W3C compliant XSLT. This XSLT is generated using the XCS Data Mapper, a drag and drop tool for graphically relating elements in a Source format with elements in a Target format. To launch the XCS Data Mapper, select either the Source or Target Transform stages from one of your interface is synonymous with interfaces are the highest-level of visible abstraction within eiconsole. any given defined by one or more routes. class=”lexicon-term”>interfaces. Then, in the XSLT Configuration section click either the Browse button (to select an existing XSLT) or Edit (to create a new XSLT).
When the XCS Data Mapper is launched you will see that it has three primary panels. The panel on the left hand side is used to display the logical structure of the Source format. The panel on the right hand side displays a tree based view of the logical structure of your Target format. In the middle is a color coded pane used to drag and drop relationships between the Source format and Target format. This is called the Mapping pane and represents the logical relationships between elements in the Source and those elements in the Target.
When using the Data Mapper, the developer’s job is to first load the left hand side of the screen, the Source, then load the right hand side of the screen, the Target, and then drag and drop elements from the Source and Target together as well as elements from the control pallet above to create the logical mapping in the Mapping pane. Source and Target formats are loaded using the Format Builder dialogue. Choose the following icon from above either the Source or Target panel.
The Select Format dialogue will allow you to read in the Source or Target tree from a variety of different data formats representing Metadata about the Source or Target format that you will be working with. Various flavors of Metadata are supported, including XML schema or XSD, Flat File descriptions built in the XCS File Specification Editor, sample XML files, HTML forms, relational databases using the SQLXML Format Builder and WSDL described Web Service descriptions.
Each one of these format builders has a corresponding configuration panel that will allow you to load in the specified artifact.
When Read Format is clicked, the Source or Target format will then be populated.
Once the Source and Target trees are populated, you can navigate through the tree to see which elements and attributes can exist in that format.
The area underneath the format tree provides details about the selected node. are nodes which have attributes and child nodes. generally they pretty interchangeable. using a good analogy you can think of it this way: node is like fruit an element apple. apple kind class=”lexicon-term”>node in the list.
In order to create a relationship between a Source field and a Target field, you simply drag and drop them together into the Mapping pane. Typically, you will first navigate to a field in the Target tree, select an unused field…
Drag that field onto the appropriate parent within the Mapping pane…
And release the mouse. A new Target field will appear.
Target fields are represented as green node. are Nodes which have attributes and child nodes. generally they pretty interchangeable. using a good analogy you can think of it this way: node is like fruit an element apple. apple kind class=”lexicon-term”>nodes in the Mapping pane. Then navigate to the corresponding field or fields in the Source tree…
And drag that field onto the newly added green Node in the map.
A relationship will then be created between the blue node (representing the value from the Source) and green node (representing the field or element in the Target). Under the covers, these mappings are represented as W3C compliant XSLT. The XSLT can be viewed by clicking on the XSLT view tab.
The XSLT is fully editable. The editing view includes code completion, and any changes made here will be immediately reflected back on the mapping tab.
The Testing tab provides a view of sample Source data and allows you to execute the current transformation against that source (see the icon the arrow is on below). The results will appear in the results tab. Any errors that occur during the transformation will appear in the Output tab at the bottom.
Back on the Mapping pane, the XSLT editor can be used to not only generate simple one-to-one mappings between fields, but arbitrarily complex mappings using any of the structures or XPath Functions available within the XSLT specification. The pallet above the mapping pane includes all the various XSLT structures and control functions that may be used to implement more complex mappings. These are categorized into tabs, such as XSLT Structures, XPath Functions and XSLT Functions, and are then further classified into sub tabs.
For instance, in order to implement conditional logic you may choose the XSLT Structures tab, then select the Flow Control tab and then drag the XSLT if structure into the appropriate place within the Mapping pane.
XPath functions are also available in the XPath functions tab.
The XCS Data Mapper also includes a set of macros that make it very easy to do common mapping tasks. A common example is Tabular Mapping between some set of Source values and a set of Target values, each one using an enumerated list of allowed values. Drag the Tabular Mapping option onto State.
Choose Define new for a new tabular mapping.
Name the mapping. The tabular code mapping dialogue allows you to very easily set up mappings between Source and Target values. Choose Add.
Then fill in the appropriate Source and Target information and select OK.
Repeat as necessary. Enter a default value and choose OK.
When the Mapping pallet is used a yellow node will appear in the tree indicating that you are doing additional work over the data instead of just mapping straight from a Source to a Target format.
In addition to the mapping capabilities of the Data Mapper, the Data Mapper can also be used to document the Source and Target formats, as well as to extend those formats. The Notes tab under the Source or Target tree can be used to annotate any field or structure within the Source or Target formats. This can be useful for tracking questions or documentation provided by a Trading Partner, Business Analyst, etc. Right click to Add a note. When a note is added to the Notes tab, a clipboard icon will appear next to the field. Any time the user returns to that field, the particular note will become visible.
The XCS Data Mapper can also be used to extend Source and Target formats. This can be enabled or disabled by clicking the Enable or disable ability to edit format description button.
When this button is pressed, yellow nodes will appear underneath the Source or Target tree. The yellow nodes in the tree represent XSD types.
By selecting one of these types and right clicking you can choose to extend the Source or Target formats and add fields, elements or attributes.
Once a schema has been extended, this customized schema can be saved as an XSD using the Save Format dialogue.
This completes the Quick Tour of the XCS Data Mapper.