Q. What does the net_map CLI command do?

A: The biggest example is the Data Viewer. While we don't distribute source, you can watch the CLI traffic coming in from the Data Viewer and see how it is using the net_map and net_read commands to using mapping.

script /tmp/foo                    # record all stdout to a file
avs -cli                           # start AVS
avs> debug AVScommand_debug 1      # turn on verbose mode 
                                   # (see Dev Guide,CLI chapter)

will enable all module-originated CLI commands to be shown along with their results. Use the Data Viewer and then instance a single new component net (using the pull down options) to see how a network is grafted in, and then delete it to see how it is removed.

The basic idea of maps is:

1. Make a base network, i.e. read field as a module to get the source from.
2. Use the net_map command to add one or more specific modules to the map as the "generic" modules to be used in place of making new ones, i.e.

      net_map foo -add "read field.user.1"

3. Read in a map using net_read -map option to say "if you have a module by the same name as one in the map, use that instead of a new one", i.e.

      net_read my_net -map foo

4. There is also a way to handle modules that don't have the same name--give the map module a -type_tag option, i.e.

      module "read field.user.1" -type_tag DATA_SRC

   Have your network put the same type_tag on the module you would want to replace

      module "my read field.user.1" -type_tag DATA_SRC

   Then when the mapping occurs it will map things with the same name OR the same type_tag.