Altova MapForce is an award-winning graphical data mapping, conversion, and integration tool that maps data between any combination of XML, database, EDI, XBRL, flat file, Excel, JSON, and/or Web service, then transforms data instantly or generates execution files or source code for recurring conversions.

What makes MapForce Superior to Other Data Integration Tools?
The MapForce Platform is available at a fraction of the cost of big-iron data management products and is unencumbered by baggage like outdated design features inherent in other legacy products.

Graphical Data Mapping
The MapForce interface facilitates data integration with a graphical interface that includes many options for managing, visualizing, manipulating, and executing individual mappings and complex mapping projects. Use the design pane to graphically define mapping components, add functions and filters for data manipulation, and drag connectors to transform between source and target formats

The design pane includes user-friendly features to help you to easily work with, identify, and redefine even the most complex mappings. For example, clicking an item name automatically selects it for connecting to another item. Pop-up prompts appear when you position your mouse over parts of the mapping connections where you can view additional information such as mapping target item(s) or datatype.

Connections are easily moved by clicking and dragging to the desired target, and duplicate connectors (from the same source to another target) can be created by dragging a connection while simply holding down the CTRL key. Activating the autoconnect child items icon automatically connects all child items of the same name under the parent item.

Data mappings can have multiple inputs and multiple outputs and combine completely disparate data types.

MapForce includes a rich library of data processing functions to perform virtually any necessary data conversion required by the integration project, and a handy overview window lets you visualize an entire data mapping project and zoom in on specific areas as needed and indicates position within the map when you scroll through the design pane. Navigate even the largest data mapping project with ease!

Data Processing Functions
MapForce provides an extensible library of data processing and conversion functions for filtering and manipulating data according to the needs of your data mapping project. To save time and leverage work you’ve already completed and tested, you can even import existing data conversion code or an XSLT 1.0 or 2.0 file for use as a function library. MapForce also includes a unique visual function builder to define and reuse custom functions that combine multiple operations.

MapForce can handle the most advanced conversion scenarios, allowing you to define rules based on conditions, Boolean logic, string operations, mathematical computations, SQL and SQL/XML statements, or any user-defined function. You can even use an existing Web service to look up or process data in any mapping.

MapForce Data Conversion Functions:

Data processing functions convert data on the fly
Mathematical calculations
Boolean, data, time, number, or string conversion
Programmatic string and dateTime parsing
Specialized node, sequence, edifact and db functions
Supports filters, conditions, parameters, and variables
Database functions in SQL or SQL/XML

Function Library
Many of the built-in functions, such as concat, add, multiply, etc., support an unlimited number of parameters, making it easy to perform mathematical manipulations and combine multiple parameters. Aggregate functions allow you to perform computations on groups of data, including count, sum, min, average, join-string, and others. Conversion functions are provided to conveniently parse complex data types.

Functions in the core library are generalized and not specific to any type of output. Using these core functions, you can create XSLT 1.0/2.0, XQuery, Java, C++, or C# data conversion code by simply selecting the language(s) you require.

Intermediate Variables
Intermediate variables are a special type of component that store an intermediate mapping result for further processing and can be used to solve various advanced mapping problems. An intermediate variable is equivalent to a regular (non-inline) user-defined function, and is a structural component without an instance file.

Filters and Conditions
Inserting filters and conditions into a mapping allows you to select data from the source based on Boolean conditions.

The if-else condition in MapForce is equivalent to a switch statement in many programming languages, enabling you to easily control the flow of data in your mapping projects by matching a value to a selected criterion.

Transformation Parameters
MapForce supports transformation input parameters, allowing outside parameters to affect mapping transformations. The transformation input parameters can be passed to the main mapping function created by the MapForce code generator in Java, C#, or C++.

Node functions
Support for node functions in MapForce means you can define data processing functions and/or default values and assign them to one or more nodes without repeating the same function multiple times - and without drawing mapping lines.

Node functions and defaults are applied at the node level and may apply to one or multiple nodes at once. They are particularly useful when you want to apply the same processing logic to multiple descendant items in a structure to, for example, trim whitespace, enter default values for empty/null values, replace specific values with some other value, etc. You can define a node function or default value for an input or output mapping component, and you can optionally propagate the function or default to some or all children of the node.

Mapping Output Preview
The MapForce built-in execution engine allows you to preview program code and output for XML, database, flat file, EDI, Excel, and XBRL data mappings. You can execute a mapping transformations, then immediately view and save the result of a mapping as it would be generated in XQuery, Java, C++, or C#, based on the defined target format.

The output tab displays an XML file if the target of the mapping is an XML Schema. Mappings to flat files have output in CSV or text files, mappings to EDI targets produce EDIFACT messages or X12 transaction sets, mappings to Excel produce Office Open XML (OOXML) markup, and mappings to XBRL taxonomies produce XBRL financial reports.

When mapping to a database, the output preview displays the SQL commands that would be executed against the database as a result of your mapping. The MapForce Engine also allows you to actually run the SQL script to execute the transformation and make the changes to the database.

Previewing XSLT Stylesheets
MapForce provides several helpful features to assist with the development of XSLT 1.0/2.0 stylesheets for XML-to-XML transformations. As you are visually designing data mappings, MapForce is generating an XSLT stylesheet for you behind the scenes. At any time, you can preview the XSLT stylesheet code by clicking on the XSLT tab at the bottom of the main design window.

In addition, when you insert a new XML Schema, DTD, or XBRL taxonomy into MapForce, you can optionally supply a sample XML instance document to accompany it. If you choose to provide sample data, MapForce allows you to easily preview the results of a sample transformation as you are working by clicking on the Output tab at the bottom of the main design window. This helps to ensure that your data mapping achieves the desired result.

Only for V.I.P