Configuring the property mappings

The job mappings specify to which items in the destination system items from the source system are imported. To combine the values of multiple source properties into one destination property value, simple expressions can be specified.

Notes

• The job mappings must be updated manually if the configuration of the source items changes.
• By default, document types and reference types are automatically synchronized between Meridian Enterprise and Meridian Explorer.
• There is a single property mapping configuration for all source and destination systems of the same publishing job. Also, the system takes advantage of matching property names in the systems when possible. This means that if there is an unmapped property in one of the source systems that matches an unmapped property in one of the destination systems, it will be imported even though no mapping exists. This also means that to configure unique property mappings between specific systems, you may need to create separate publishing jobs. For the best results when mapping properties between multiple source or destination systems, they should have the same properties.

To configure job mappings:

1. In Meridian Enterprise Server Configurator, in the Data Exchange group, click Jobs. The All Jobs page appears and lists the existing publishing jobs. The jobs are grouped by the name of the computer (cluster node) to which they have been assigned.
2. Double-click the job for which you want to configure the mappings. The job's configuration pages appear.

3. In the menu, click PROPERTY MAPPING or TYPE MAPPING (if the job is a Meridian Explorer synchronization job). A list of the current mappings appears, grouped by property set if the items are properties. To configure the mappings for other item types (a Meridian Explorer synchronization job), click OBJECT TAG or PROJECT in the page header.

   • If no mappings appear, they have not yet been defined, such as for a file system destination, for example. You must define them either by creating each one manually or by creating matching properties from the source system:
     1. In the toolbar, click Edit Destination Properties. The EDIT DESTINATION PROPERTIES dialog box appears.
     • To create matching destination properties from the source system:
       1. Click CREATE FROM SOURCE. A new destination property definition is created for each source system property and is added to the list. Duplicate property names appear in red text and must be renamed to be unique. Unique property names appear in green text. You will only be able to save the property definitions when all property names are unique.
       • To change the settings of a property, click its row to make it editable and then use the following instructions for editing the settings of a manually created mapping.
       • To remove a property from the mapping, select the row that you want to remove and then in the toolbar click Remove.
       2. When all of the property names are unique, click OK. The new mappings appear on the page.
     • To create a new mapping manually:
       1. In the toolbar, click New. A new property row appears in the list with default settings.
       2. Type a unique name in the NAME column and select the appropriate data type from the DATA TYPE list.
       3. Click Update to save your settings.

   The icons and columns are described in the following table:

• To exclude an item from publishing:
  • Select the item name and then click Exclude. The icon changes to indicate the item's new status.
• To include an item in publishing:
  • Select the item name and then click Include. The icon changes to indicate the item's new status.
4. To change the mapping of an item, double-click the item name. The item expands to show its mapping options.
5. Click options or type values for each column using the descriptions in the following table.

6. Click Update to save your changes to the item mapping.
7. To assign an expression to an item mapping:
   1. Select the item name that you want to assign the expression to and then in the toolbar, click Edit Expression. The EXPRESSION dialog box appears and lists the available properties in the source system.

   2. In the Expression pane, type an expression to be evaluated during publishing. The expression may use any .NET compliant methods (except Parse) and operators in the C# language syntax. The result of the expression will be the property value in the destination system. Double-click a property in the list to insert it into the expression. The result of the expression must be compatible with the data type of the destination property. If necessary, you can convert data types, for example, using the ToString method.

      Following are examples of text and date expressions:

      {Title 1} + " " + {Title 2} + " " + {Title 3}
      {PropertyName}.SubString(0, 1)
      {NonStringProperty}.ToString() + " days"
      {ProjectEndDate}.AddDays(-30)
      

   3. To validate the expression, click CHECK. Errors in the expression appear in the Errors pane. Correct all errors until the Errors pane is empty.
   4. When you are finished editing the expression, click SAVE. The expression appears in the EXPRESSION column.
8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each mapping that you want to change.
9. When you are finished configuring mappings, click SAVE.