What is a Map?

A map enables you to generate a visual representation of the relationships between resource definitions in the data repository.

The associations between CICS resource definitions defined to CICSPlex SM can be complex and difficult to visualize. For example, a CICS system can be associated with a specification and a specification might contain one or more groups. In turn there can be definitions within the groups. This type of structure is often portrayed as the branches of a tree and the WUI map function provides a method of generating a visual representation of the tree structure for a selected resource. This representation, called a map, can portray business application services (BAS), resource monitoring (MON), real-time analysis (RTA), or workload management (WLM) definitions. Using maps, you can verify that the relationships between your definitions are as expected.

All IBM-supplied tabular and detail views that display resource definitions include a map button. The map function is invoked by clicking the button. By default, the map displays definitions that are referred to by the selected definition, that is, it maps all levels below the current level. This is called a map right operation. For example, if the selected resource is a WLM specification, the map displays associated WLM groups definitions and transaction groups.

If your selected resource is already at the lowest level, for example a WLM transaction group or a BAS resource definition, the map displays relationships for all levels above the current level. In the case of a transaction group the map displays associated definitions, groups and specifications. This is called map left.

Contents of a map view

At the top of the map view are icons enabling you to do the following:

: Return to the previous detailed view.
: Display a printer-friendly map view.
: Switch to a map left view of the selected resource definition.
: Switch to a map right view of the selected resource definition.
: Expand all the definitions on the map display.
: Collapse all the definitions on the map display.

The map itself is a table with between 4 and 18 columns. There are two different types of column on the map view:

Resource columns

Contain the resource names of objects. The header shows the type of definition the column relates to, for example WLM specification, WLM group, and so on. Resource names act as hyperlinks. Clicking on one opens a detailed view of the resource. Instead of resource names, resource columns may contain the following symbols:

Horizontal line: Indicates that there is a higher level resource name that is directly connected. There is no corresponding resource name.
Asterisks: Indicates that this row is in a collapsed state. This cell is at a lower level to the resource that performed the collapse.
Broken line ( - - - - - ): This is displayed only in the RASINDSC column on a map of a BAS resource definition. It indicates that there is an association between the RESDESC and RESGROUP caused by the fields in a RASINDSC object. Without this symbol, it would imply that the association between the RESDESC and the RESGROUP was only a direct connection.

Connecting columns

Appear between resources on the map view. The header of a connecting column contains an icon showing the direction in which the map should be read, that is, an arrow pointing right for a map right (down level) operation, and an arrow pointing left for a map left (up level) operation. Connecting columns can contain one of the following symbols:

Horizontal bar: Indicates that the values in the columns on either side of this bar are connected together. The bar may connect a resource to a blank space and vertical bar character, in which case it means that the resource is related to the first proper resource name encountered when moving up the table
Expand or collapse icon: Indicates a connection in the same way as a horizontal bar. However, these icons can also be used to expand and collapse parts of the map. If a resource has more than one lower level resource associated with it; for example, a resource group with more than one resource definition, the connection column to the left of this resource contains a collapse icon (assuming it is in an expanded state). This changes to an expand icon if you collapse the row.
Vertical bar: Indicates that a resource has a sibling and has more than one lower level association. A bar is displayed in each cell in the column until the sibling resource name is rendered.

Some columns on a map, such as Resource definition, contain more than one resource type. In such cases an additional column is displayed containing the resource type of the resources.

You can initiate a map right or map left operation for most resources displayed on a map screen by selecting the adjacent radio button and clicking the map right or map left icon. The exceptions to this are CICS system or CICS group names because performing a further map operation on these resources would not result in any additional useful data: a map right command would redisplay only the current data, while a map left command would produce a map with only the CICS system/CICS group name displayed.

There are also some columns that can appear on a map screen that are not proper resources but provide additional information about relationships - for example Scope type on a BAS map. As these are not true resources, it is not possible to perform a map left or map right operation on them.

If you select more than one resource on a tabular view, you can click Next to display a map of the next selected resource.

By default the map is normally displayed in the expanded state. However you can alter this default behavior using the WUI server initialization parameter DEFAULTMAPCOLL or for particular groups of users when specifying a user group profile.

Using a screen reader

If you are using a screen reader, you need to ensure that it is properly configured in order to correctly interpret the information contained in the map. In particular:

Set the screen reader's punctuation mode to voice or display all symbols. This is because the vertical bar symbol is used to denote relationships between elements on a map screen when applicable. If the screen reader is not set up to voice or display the vertical bar symbol, the screen reader cannot determine the relationships between map elements.
Use the table mode option of the screen reader. This should ensure that the map is read in its intended logical sequence.

Customized map objects

You can use the view editor for the following map-related tasks:

Enable the map function on a customized view.

The map function is available on both tabular and detail views that are related to definitional objects.
Create, edit, copy, or delete a customized map object.

By default the map generated from a particular view is the IBM-supplied map object for the selected resource type. However you can create your own map objects using the view editor and then link these to particular resources by setting WUI server initialization parameters, or for particular groups of users, in user group profiles.

When you create a map object you can specify the destination of the hyperlinks from the resource names displayed on the generated map. In this way you can specify links to customized views from generated maps.

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