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: 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..
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
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 InterChange Server
Express repository.
Table 4 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 4. 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. |
