Setting up your mapping environment involves:
Setting up a project
Less maps required = less time and money spent.
ECMap Project and Map definition allows you to group related information together. This forms the baseline for sharing information and logic across projects and maps. The design of ECMap is oriented towards minimizing the number of maps created - a map can serve multiple trading partner relationships.
The bottom line is that development costs are reduced and maintenance costs are lowered as well.
To set up a project, you must provide a project name and a directory path for grouping your maps. Optionally, you may also provide a description of the project and the name and telephone number of a contact person. In this tutorial, name your project Purchase Orders and place your mapping information in the directory c:\..\PurchaseOrders.
Select Project on the toolbar at the top of the window. The Projects window displays.
From the File menu on the Projects window, select New. From the New submenu, select Project. The New Project window displays.
Type PurchaseOrders in
the Project Name text box.
Project Description is an optional field.
Type c:\..\PurchaseOrders in the Directory text box. You can also Browse for the directory on the Select a Directory window if it already exists.
Contact is an optional field.
Phone Number is an optional field.
Select OK to return to the Project – PurchaseOrders window. (Once you have created a project, the window label changes to include the name of that project.)
Setting up a map
ECMap makes it easy to ensure that your data is Y2K compliant. You simply define a specific “windowing” year as your “Century Minimum”. All 6-digit dates with years beginning at this year are assumed to be in the current century, while all dates with prior years are assumed to be in the next century. ECMap automatically converts all 6-digit dates to 8-digit dates for you.
To create an any-to-any map, you assign a name to the map and associate that name with attributes, including a list of directories. You must:
Define the type of map as ANY2ANY.
Specify the Y2K windowing year (Century Minimum).
Specify the directories in which map-related information are stored.
Set up a DSN (Data Source Name) to point to the database that contains log information if you are using an ODBC database.
Optionally, you may also provide a description of the map.
Highlight PurchaseOrders on the Project - PurchaseOrders window and select New from the File menu. From the New submenu, select Map. The New Map Definition window displays. It has three tabs – Map Properties, Map Directories, and Map DSN. Follow the steps below to enter the required information on each tab before you select OK at the bottom of the window.
On the map properties tab, under map:
ECMap automatically populates the Project text box with the name of the project – PurchaseOrders.
In the Map text box, type MPT.
When you start typing, ECMap enters the entry automatically for you. From the Map Type drop-down list, select ANY2ANY. (The bottom part of the window changes after you make this selection.)
On the map properties tab, under options:
In the Century Minimum text box, type 50. (This is arbitrary and can be any number from 1 to 99.)
Description is an optional field.
On the map directories tab:
Projects and maps can be stored in the directory structure of your choice. This allows for extreme flexibility for both map development and map management in the operations environment.
To change multiple directories at one time, set the
protection status of each directory you want to change to Change
and set all others to Protect. Select Change All to browse for a
new directory. All the unprotected directories are changed to the
directory you select.
Since you are allowed to browse for unprotected directories only, the Invert button is a handy feature that allows you to temporarily change a protected directory to unprotected, browse for and select a new directory, and then change the status back to protected by selecting the Invert button again.
Select the Map Directories tab to make it active. ECMap automatically populates the text boxes of all the directories, in the format c:\<project directory path>\<map name>. The directory entries for this example appear as follows:
c:\..\PurchaseOrders\MPT
For this example, use these default directories. However, ECMap gives you the option to change the default entries, and it makes changing them a very easy process. You can use the Change All button in combination with the Change/Protect buttons to change multiple unprotected directories at once, or you can manually change the directories one at a time. The protection status does not affect manual changes.
On the map DSN tab:
Select the Map DSN tab to make it active. For any-to-any maps, you enter information on this tab only if you are using ODBC log databases. Since you are using an ODBC log database in this tutorial, you must configure the DSN that points to the ODBC log database. (For convenience, configure the DSN for the ODBC database containing the output of the map at the same time. You could perform this step later.)
Configure the DSN for the proprietary inventory and billing database:
On the System DSN tab, choose Add again.
Create a DSN for your Inventory and Billing ODBC application database. The Create New Data Source window displays.
Highlight Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb) and select Finish. The ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window displays.
Enter BILLING in the Data Source Name text box. Select “Select” under Database in the center section of the window, and the Select Database window displays. (The Description is optional.)
Navigate down into c:\..\data on the right side of the window. On the left side of the window under Database Name, double-click PO_DATA.mdb. You return to the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window, and the path you selected displays in the Database section: c:\..\DATA\PO_DATA.mdb. Select OK and you return to the ODBC Data Source Administrator window. Select OK to close that window and return to the New Map Definition window.
The program automatically constructs the DSN for the Inventory and Billing database, but it does not display on the Map DSN tab of the New Map Definition window.
On the New Map Definition window, select the up arrow for Data Source Name. Highlight Log and double-click on the Log.
Select OK on the New Map Definition window, and you receive the following message, The Log Table Does Not Exist in This Data Source: “DSN=LOG” Do You Want To Create The Table? Select Yes, and you return to the Map-Purchase Orders MPT window. (Once you have defined a new map, the window label changes to include the name of that map.)
Configuring the DSN for the ODBC log database
In the Log section, enter LOG in the Data Source Name text box and select Configure Data Source. The program automatically constructs and enters the DSN for the log database (DSN=LOG) and enters it in the Log Driver Connect String May be Altered text box. The ODBC Data Source Administrator window displays.
Select the System DSN tab of the ODBC Data Source Administrator window to make it active. Choose Add on the right side of the window to create a new DSN for the log database. The Create New Data Source window displays.
In the list of drivers, highlight Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb) and select Finish at the bottom of the window. The ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window displays.
Enter LOG in the Data Source Name text box. The Description is optional. Select Create in the Database section in the middle of the window, and the New Database window displays.
Under Directories in the center section of the New Database window, navigate down into c:\..\data. In the Database Name text box on the top left side of the window, enter xml_log.mdb and select OK. You receive the message Database c:MAPS\DATA\xml_log.mdb was successfully created. Select OK and you return to the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window. Select OK and you return to the ODBC Data Source Administrator window. You have successfully set up the DSN that points to the log database.
If you have previously created the log database, you
receive an Error message - The datasource named 'LOG' already
exists. Replace it with this definition? Select Yes.
Making your new map the current active map
Each time you start ECMap, it “remembers” the last map you used and automatically opens it for you.
To make the project and map “current”, double-click MPT (the map you just defined on the New Maps Definition window). You return to the main ECMap window and the “current” map information displays in the status bar at the bottom of the window:
Project: PurchaseOrders Map: MPT
