Visual Basic .NET Example
The following example illustrates how to run a mapping execution file (.mfx) from VB.NET code. On Windows, the example files are available at the following path: C:\Program Files\Altova\MapForceServer2024\etc\Examples.
Prerequisites
•MapForce Server is installed and licensed
•If you are creating a new Visual Studio project, add a reference to the MapForce Server assembly (see .NET Interface). You can skip this step if you are running the existing MapForce Server API example, because the example already references the MapForce Server assembly.
•On the Build menu of Visual Studio, click Configuration Manager and set a correct build platform, for example Debug | x86 (or Debug | x64, if applicable). Do not use "Any CPU" as platform.
•If you have installed MapForce Server 64-bit, then the application which calls the API (such as the sample one below) must also be built for the 64-bit platform in Visual Studio. Also, the path to the MapForce server executable must be adjusted accordingly in the code.
The example solution is in the "Program Files" directory, which requires administrative rights. Either run Visual Studio as administrator, or copy the solution to a different folder where you don't need administrative rights. |
Running the mapping code
The code below runs three server execution files (.mfx). The table below lists the input files expected by each .mfx file, and the output that will be created after execution.
Execution file (.mfx) | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
TokenizeString.mfx | AltovaTools.xml | AltovaToolsFeatures.csv |
SimpleTotal.mfx | ipo.xml | String |
ClassifyTemperatures.mfx | Temperatures.xml | Temperatures_out.xml |
If you have Altova MapForce, you can optionally take a look at the original mappings from which the .mfx files were compiled in order to understand them better. These are called TokenizeString1.mfd, SimpleTotal.mfd, and ClassifyTemperatures.mfd, respectively. You can find the mappings in the following directory: C:\users\<user>\Altova\MapForce2024\MapForceExamples.
The example below does the following:
•It creates a new instance of Altova.MapForceServer.Server. This is the object you will subsequently be working with.
•It sets a working directory where execution takes place. Input files are expected to exist in this directory if you referred to them using a relative path. Output files will also be created in this directory (see the table above).
•It runs TokenizeString.mfx. The file path is supplied as argument to the Run method (notice that the path is relative to the working directory that was set previously). Upon successful execution, a .csv file representing the mapping output will be created in the working directory.
•It runs SimpleTotal.mfx. Again, the file path is relative to the working directory. This mapping produces a string output, so we call the GetOutputParameter method to get the string output.
•It runs ClassifyTemperatures.mfx. This mapping expects a parameter as input, which was supplied with the help of the AddParameter method.
Option Explicit On |