Message mapping

Message mapping is a technical term from EDP , especially from the field of electronic data interchange .

A mapping is a specification for an EDI converter system to convert a message from one structure to another.

Depending on the converter system used, a mapping can be created in various forms, for example in the form of a table, as source code in a programming language , through a graphical user interface ( GUI ), or in the case of XML messages as XSLT script.

example

An example is an order that is sent from a customer to a supplier. The customer works with a SAP R / 3 system, so he creates the order in the SAP Intermediate Document (IDoc) structure, the supplier expects the order in the EDIFACT structure . Specifically, we consider a special element of the message, namely the customer's order number (shown in bold):

E2EDK01002000000010 EUR 1.00000 0010 EC 3000064288

The content of this information is not changed by the conversion, but is transferred to the target structure. One possible representation in EDIFACT is:

RFF + ON: 3000064288

In order to bring about exactly this conversion, the corresponding excerpt from a mapping can look like this, for example, formulated in a special programming language:

copy DC1.K01: BELNR to UNB.UNH.G01.RFF: C506.1154;

BELNR is the field designation of the field in the IDOC in which the order number is located, 1154 is the field designation in EDIFACT, which includes the order number here. Overall, the expression 'DC1.K01: BELNR' represents the embedding of the field in the structure of the IDOC: BELNR is a field in the record 'K01', which in turn is arranged under the record 'DC1'. Similarly, the expression 'UNB.UNH.G01.RFF: C506.1154' specifies the unique position and hierarchy of element 1154 in the EDIFACT structure.

This mapping is converted into executable code after completion and executed by the converter at runtime.