Data Connection and Mapping

General Interface software is designed to interface with industry-standard web protocols.

XML Mapping Utility

The XML Mapping Utility provides a visual environment for configuring and testing data services including data mapping, testing, and off-line development.

To open the XML Mapping Utility, choose Tools > XML Mapping Utility.

For more information on the XML Mapping Utility, see Communicating with Data Services and Communicating with a Web Service Tutorial.

Visual Bindings

The XML Mapping Utility provides a visual interface for mapping GUI components to data services. You can use drag-and-drop to create bindings for inbound and outbound SOAP messages and XML documents. XML elements can be bound to the values of GUI objects, nodes in XML documents, and JavaScript variables. All mapping information is stored in an XML file referenced in the project. If modifications are needed, you reopen this file in the XML Mapping Utility.

Testing

When mappings are complete, the interaction with the data service can be tested. You can preview the outbound message before it is sent, test the message against the live service, preview the response message, and enter a callback script to execute when the response is received.

Decoupled Web Service Development

For tight project timelines, avoiding sequential dependencies is critical to project success. General Interface Builder is designed to allow parallel development of back-end and front-end applications. Back-end data services do not need to be complete or accessible for application development to begin. You can save a representative snapshot of server data on the local file system. During testing, the live web service environment can be simulated using this stored data. An application can even be deployed using static data, then reconfigured when the back-end service becomes available.

Additional Visual Tools

Additional protocols and interactions are supported using the General Interface APIs. For more information on designing interactions, see the online API documentation in General Interface Builder.

For General Interface feature updates and examples to assist the application development process, visit Developer Network at http://www.generalinterface.org.