When creating maps between XML elements and Eclipse database elements, every line you draw represents a movement of data from an XML document to Eclipse, or from Eclipse to an XML document being sent to your customers' or vendors' systems.
You can create maps from almost any source element to almost any target element. Be sure to make the connections in a logical manner. For example, do not map elements to the BillTo element in Eclipse. Any data you map to the BillTo element overwrites the BillTo information you have stored in the customer record for the trading partner. Instead, map a customer number or ID to the ShipTo element. The system verifies that the incoming number or ID is valid and matches a customer ID or e-commerce ID in the system and then populates the BillTo information from the customer record.
Note: If an XML element in the document type definition (DTD) file for a received or sent document has nested elements, the mapping utility might not allow you to draw a connection from or to the parent element. Expand the element to map the nested children, if necessary.
The symbols that display for a DTD file in the mapping utility indicate what types of data can be transmitted in the corresponding XML document. For example, items on an order request might be indicated with a plus sign (+) in the mapping utility, indicating that they are a repeating group. The repeating group symbol means that the element can occur multiple times within the XML document.
As you create your transaction maps, note that any field that you map and add data modifications to must be contained in the XML document you send or receive. The field in the XML document can be blank; however, if the tag does not exist in the XML document for a mapped field, the system gives you an error.
In creating your transaction maps, take into consideration how repeating groups are stored in Eclipse. For example, the data element called Item in a customer's DTD file likely contains additional nested elements such as ItemNum and Description. You can logically map these elements to the ProductID and ProductKeywords database elements in Eclipse, thus, creating a logical map where the system can store the information from the repeating group.
You can map the following:
A single element from the source to a single element in the target (one-to-one mapping).
A single element from the source to multiple elements in the target (one-to-many mapping).
Multiple elements from the source to a single field in the target (many-to-one mapping). The system concatenates each element from the source into the target element.
Note: A valid transaction map includes an inbound request, an outbound request, or both, and mapping selection criteria. Inbound and outbound documents can be one directional, that is, inbound only or outbound only.
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