Overview of map development
This section provides an overview of map development,
which includes the following high-level tasks:
- Installing and setting up the map development software and installing
the Java Development Kit.
- Designing and implementing the map.
Requirements for setting up the development environment
Before you start the development process, the following
must be true:
- The map development software is installed on a machine that
you can access.
For information on how to install and start up the map development
software system, see your system installation guide.
- The IBM Java
Development Kit (JDK) is installed from the product CD.
Be sure to update the PATH environment variable to include the installed Java directory.
Restart InterChange Server Express after
you have updated the path.
- System Manager is running.
For information on starting up System Manager, see your system
installation guide.
- Map Designer Express is
open and connected to System Manager.
For information on how to start Map Designer Express,
see Overview of Map Designer Express.
Designing and implementing the map
To design and implement maps you need to do the following:
- Learn the data formats used by all business objects involved
in the map.
- Create the map within Map Designer Express.
- Customize any required transformation rule.
- Define any relationships within Relationship Designer Express that
the map needs.
- Customize the mapping transformation to perform relationship
management.
- Implement error and message handling, if appropriate.
- Generate the .java file and compiled code. The compiled code is an executable Java
class. For more information, see Map development files.
- Test and debug the map, recoding as necessary.
Figure 4 provides a visual
overview of map development and provides a quick reference to chapters
where you can find information on specific topics.
Tip: If a team of people is available for
map development, the major tasks of developing a map can be done
in parallel by different members of the development team.
Figure 5. Overview of the map development task
Map development files
The following information forms the basis of the map:
- When you compile a map, Map Designer Express generates
two types of files (.java, .class) or an optional message file (.txt) if map-specified messages
are defined in the map. These files are saved in the project in
System Manager.
- Map Designer Express generates
a map definition when you save a map to the project in System Manager.
This map definition contains general information about the map (such
as map properties) as well as information about how the destination
attributes are mapped.
Attention:
Do not modify the mapname.java file. If you do, your changes are not reflected in the map
design, which is stored in the project in System Manager. Therefore,
these changes are not editable in Map Designer Express. Map Designer Express reads
only the map definition.
Relationship Designer Express also
stores relationship definitions in XML format in System Manager.
At deployment, System Manager creates table schemas in the relationship
database to contain the relationship run-time instance data. For
each relationship, you can specify the location of all its relationship
tables. The default location for these tables
is the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express repository.
Table 5 lists the file
types that Map Designer Express can
generate (.java, .class, .cwm, .bo, .txt) and their locations relative to the System Manager workplace.
Table 5. Map file types
File type |
Description |
Location relative to System Manager
workspace |
.java |
Generated Java code, created by Map Designer Express when
you compile a map. |
Stored in ProjectName\Maps\Src. |
.class |
Compiled Java code, created by Map Designer Express when
you compile a map. |
Stored in ProjectName\Maps\Classes. |
.cwm |
Map definition file, generated by Map Designer Express when
you save a map definition. |
Saved to ProjectName\Maps when "Saved" to System Manager. |
.bo |
Plain text file, used to save and load test run
data and to save test run results. |
You can save these files to any location. |
.txt |
Message
file, created by Map Designer Express from
information in the Messages tab when it compiles the map. |
Stored in ProjectName\Maps\Messages. |
