Using the Designer Overview

The Designer has tools to help you build mappings and mapplets so you can specify how to move and transform data between sources and targets. The Designer helps you create source definitions, target definitions, and transformations to build the mappings. The Designer includes windows so you can view folders, repository objects, and tasks. You can work in multiple folders and repositories at one time. You can configure general Designer settings, such as font and background color. You can also configure specific tool settings for each Designer tool. Designer Tools The Designer provides the following tools:

Source Analyzer. Import or create source definitions for flat file, XML, COBOL, Application, and relational sources. Target Designer. Import or create target definitions. Transformation Developer. Create reusable transformations. Mapplet Designer. Create mapplets. Mapping Designer. Create mappings. Designer Windows The Designer consists of the following windows:

Navigator. Connect to multiple repositories and folders. You can also copy and delete objects and create shortcuts using the Navigator. Workspace. View or edit sources, targets, mapplets, transformations, and mappings. You work with a single tool at a time in the workspace, which has two formats: default and workbook. You can view multiple versions of an object in the workspace. Status bar. Displays the status of the operation you perform. Output. Provides details when you perform certain tasks, such as saving work or validating a mapping. Right click the Output window to access window options, such as printing output text, saving text to file, and changing the font size. Overview. View workbooks that contain large mappings or a lot of objects. The Overview window outlines the visible area in the workspace and highlights selected objects in color. To open the Overview window, click View > Overview Window.

Instance Data. View transformation data while you run the Debugger to debug a mapping. Target Data. View target data while you run the Debugger to debug a mapping. You can view a list of open windows, and you can switch from one window to another in the Designer. To view the list of open windows, click Window > Windows. The following figure shows the Designer windows:

The following figure shows the Designer windows:

1. Status Bar 2. Navigator 3. Output 4. Workspace The following figure shows the Overview window:

The objects within the outline display in the workspace. Objects filled with color are selected in the workspace.