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When a retrieval is being carried out from a file using a mapped format, the contents of the file records are read into a mapped data object (MDO). A map is attached to the MDO to provide NCL with a means of interpreting its contents. The &ASSIGN verb can then be used to reference certain sections of the data by name and extract these from the MDO into NCL tokens (variables). Mapping Services does the work of locating the sections of data which are being extracted by using the map. By doing the work of locating components within the data, Mapping Services can save a considerable number of NCL statements, particularly for files that have a complicated format, and also for files that contain non-printable data.
Because the map definition is a separate entity within your product, it is also possible that subsequent changes to the file format will only require changes to be made to the map definition, and not to the NCL code itself.
Mapping Services can be used to define maps capable of interpreting most data formats.
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