The Table and Format panes
The Map-Definition window contains two panes: the Table pane and the Format pane.
- Scroll the panes to see all of the columns or fields of a long data file or database table.
- Connect an input field to more than one column.
The left column of icons in each pane represents the active elements of the display. These left columns do not change. In a load map, the columns in the Table pane receive the input. In the Format pane, data from the fields moves into the columns of the database table.
The right column of icons in each pane represents the associations that you make. These columns change as you build the map. A field might be listed more than once in the right column of the Table pane because you can store a field from the data file in more than one database column. This field is mapped (with a split arrow) to two columns in the Format pane. A column never appears more than once in the list to the right of the Format pane because a column can only receive input from one database field.
By scanning the left pane, you can easily see which columns are receiving data from the data file. By scanning the right pane, you can see which fields of the data file are providing data and which fields are not being used.