What is the use of Maps in ax 2012?

Question

With a map, we can associate a map field with a field in one or more tables. This enables us to use the same field name to access fields with different names but the same data type in different tables...this is the definition i understood but i could not get the actual usage of maps.What is the practical application of maps in ax 2012.

Answer 1

Maps are to tables what interfaces are to classes. The purpose is to implement once a behavior and apply it to different tables. The classical example before AX 2012 was on addresses. Then on CustTable, VendTable, etc... you have the same behavior (validation of ZIP code, formatting Addressing field, etc...).