Map Editor

The Natural map editor is used to create a Natural object of type map. A map is a screen layout that can be referenced in a Natural object such as a program by using either an INPUT USING MAP statement (for input maps) or a WRITE USING MAP statement (for output maps).

A map contains text fields and data fields. Text fields are literal strings and data fields are variables. Data fields can be either user-defined variables or Natural system variables.

Once a map has been created, it can be stored as a source object and a cataloged object in a library in a Natural system file.

Note:
When using Natural Studio in a Windows environment, the map editor supports fields with Unicode format and Unicode strings. However, when reading the source of a Unicode map into the editing area of a map editor in a local mainframe or a UNIX environment, all Unicode strings will be removed from the source.

Note:
The map editor has been disabled in your environment by default. For more information, see Disabled Natural Editors.

Related Topics:

The Map Editor documentation is organized in the following parts:

Components of the Map Editor
Summary of Map Creation
Invoking and Leaving the Map Editor
Functions in the Edit Map Menu
Initializing a Map
Editing a Map
Defining Map Fields
Extended Field Editing
Post Assignment of Fields
Array and Table Definitions
Processing Rules