Apparatus, system, and method for map definition generation

• US 20060259470A1
• Filed: 05/11/2005
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chandrasekharan, Sivakumar, Tsang, Juliana Hing Sze, Chelladurai, Karthikeyan, Srinivasan, Saravanakumar Anthiyur
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A computer program product, apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for automatic generation of a map definition. The computer program product performs operations for such generation. These operations include identifying a source data structure and a source attribute associated with the source data structure and identifying a destination data structure and a destination attribute associated with the destination data structure. These operations also include automatically identifying a match of the source attribute and the destination attribute and generating a map definition inclusive of the match. The computer program product, apparatus, system, and method thereby reduce human intervention in the creation of a map definition.

Claims

1. A method for generating a map definition for a client, the method comprising:

accessing a source data structure and a destination data structure of a client, wherein the source data structure comprises a source attribute and the destination data structure comprises a destination data attribute;

using a map apparatus to automatically identify a match of the source attribute and the destination attribute and to generate a map definition configured to map a source value for the identified source attribute to a destination value for the identified destination attribute; and

delivering the map definition to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the map definition during a development time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatic identification comprises comparing the spelling of a source attribute identifier to the spelling of a source attribute identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising editing the map definition to define a mapping between an additional source attribute and an additional destination attribute, the additional source and destination attributes having a semantic relationship.

5. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to facilitate automatic generation of a map definition, the operations comprising:

identifying a source data structure and a source attribute associated with the source data structure;

identifying a destination data structure and a destination attribute associated with the destination data structure;

automatically identifying a match of the source attribute and the destination attribute; and

generating a map definition inclusive of the match.

6. The signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to generate the map definition during development time.

7. The signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to identify the match according to a tolerance parameter.

8. The signal bearing medium of claim 7, wherein tolerance parameter comprises an affix parameter and the instructions further comprise an operation to designate the affix parameter.

9. The signal bearing medium of claim 7, wherein tolerance parameter comprises a case sensitivity parameter and the instructions further comprise an operation to designate the case sensitivity parameter.

10. The signal bearing medium of claim 7, wherein tolerance parameter comprises a data type compatibility parameter and the instructions further comprise an operation to designate the data type compatibility parameter.

11. The signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to generate a reverse map definition from a mapping defined in the map definition.

12. The signal bearing medium of claim 11, wherein the reverse mapping definition comprises a reverse transformation corresponding to a forward transformation included in the map definition.

13. The signal bearing medium of claim 12, wherein the reverse transformation comprises a join operation and the forward transformation comprises a split operation.

14. The signal bearing medium of claim 12, wherein the reverse transformation comprises a split operation and the forward transformation comprises a join operation.

15. The signal bearing medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to generate a compiled reverse map definition from the reverse map definition.

16. The signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the source data structure comprises a source attribute identifier and the destination data structure comprises a destination attribute identifier and wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to identify the match according to a comparison of the destination attribute identifier and a synonym of the source attribute identifier.

17. The signal bearing medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to search a synonym table for the synonym.

18. The signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to generate a compiled map definition from the map definition.

19. An apparatus comprising the signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the apparatus further comprises a plurality of modules configured to implement the operations to facilitate automatic generation of the map definition.

20. A system comprising the signal bearing medium of claim 5, wherein the system further comprises an interchange server coupled to the source data structure and the destination data structure.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a source database server coupled to the interchange server, wherein the source data structure resides on the source database server.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a destination database server coupled to the interchange server, wherein the destination data structure resides on the destination database server.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising an electronic memory device coupled to the interchange server, wherein the electronic memory device is configured to store the machine-readable instructions of the signal bearing medium.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a synonym table stored on the electronic memory device, the synonym table comprising one or more synonyms associated with a source attribute identifier.

25. The system of claim 20, further comprising a digital processor configured to execute the machine-readable instructions of the signal bearing medium to perform the operations to facilitate automatic generation of the map definition.

26. A method for automatically generating of a map definition, the method comprising:

identifying a source data structure and a source attribute associated with the source data structure;

identifying a destination data structure and a destination attribute associated with the destination data structure;

automatically identifying a match of the source attribute and the destination attribute; and

generating a map definition inclusive of the match.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating the map definition during development time.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising using a tolerance parameter in a comparison of the source attribute and the destination attribute, wherein the tolerance parameter comprises one of an affix parameter, a case sensitivity parameter, and a data type compatibility parameter.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising comparing the destination attribute and a synonym associated with source attribute.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating a reverse map definition from the map definition.