Friday, March 13, 2009

Developer Tools in AIA FP 2.3 - Part 1

We wanted to emphasize on the new features and functionalities added to FP 2.3. As part of the same we would be writing a 3 part series covering new tools/features added to FP 2.3. In this part we cover XSLT Document Generator and the common pitfalls and workarounds for the same.

XLST Document Generator
1) What is the tool?
The tool helps in generating documentation relating to the mapping information in the XSL file in HTML format. The tool comes handy in creation/updating contents of design document or creating/updation of test cases. The tool provides source column, target column, DVM and Cross reference details in tabular format

2) Where to find?
The tool can be found under AIA_HOME\Developer Tools\XSLDocGen

3) How to Execute?
a) Set the environment variables by running aiaenv.sh (if not done already). aiaenv.bat can be found under "AIA_HOME\bin" folder
b) Create input folder (say D:\inDir) and place the XSL file in the folder for which you want to generate the documentation
c) Create output folder (say D:\outDir)
b) Go to "AIA_HOME\Developer Tools\XSLDocGen\bin" folder
c) Execute generateMappingDoc batch file as shown below
generateMappingDoc inputDir=D:\inDir\(name of XSL file) outputFormat=html outputDir=D:\outdir
d) The tool will generate 2 files with the extensions XML and HTML in the output directory

4) Common pitfalls
1) Batch file (generateMappingDoc) might return an error saying "AIA Home not set correctly" in which case try changing the first line of the BATCH file from
set AIA_HOME=@AIA_HOME@
to the following
set AIA_HOME=%AIA_HOME%
2) XSL file and the related files should be placed in the input directory. For instance, BillOfMaterialsListEBMToCreateBOM.xsl and BillOfMaterialsListEBMToCreateBOM_Custom.xsl should both be placed in the input directory or else you will get an error
3) Not running aiaenv batch file also will return errors

Ramesh Chandra Revuru & Srinivas Mengerthi

6 comments:

  1. This tool also helps us to identify potential mapping conflicts in EBM to ABM transformations and vice-versa. In FP 2.4, this tool can be executed as one of the rules in the PIP Auditor tool.

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  2. FYI. Updates to the tool are available as part of Metalink Note 782351.1.

    In addition, quick comment on the future of this tool - while this started as a simple "XSLT Doc Generator", it's role is quickly morphing into ensuring accurate "Content Governance". For example, to ensure that the mappings are done identically in all PIPs; to ensure that the same XREF and DVM is used for a given EBO in all the PIPs. This is critical to ensure proper interoperability and reusability.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your best practices!
    you say "For example, to ensure that the mappings are done identically in all PIPs" you mean in all ABCS?

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  4. Is it possible to install the Windows Phone developer tools on a backup HDD from my XP, to use on my Win 7 lap?

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  5. Hi,

    Even after changing the value from AIA_HOME=@AIA_HOME@
    to the following
    set AIA_HOME=%AIA_HOME% I am getting error as AIA_HOME not set correctly. Please check.

    Any help on this please

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  6. can xman be used to find duplicate ebm mappings that also contains extended records?

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