EDI XML Converter Properties

You can use the Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) XML Converter to convert EDI files to XML and vice versa.

Properties are the same for most supported EDI dialects; however, some properties are dialect-specific (cexpand and hexpand, for example).

TIP: DataDirect XML Converters supports the Standard Exchange Format (SEF) standard, which allows you to define extensions to an EDI standard. See “Handling Proprietary EDI Formats” for more information.

The following table lists properties for the EDI XML Converter.

XML Converter Name in URI

EDI

Table 5-9. Properties for the EDI XML Converter

Name in URI	Property Name	Description
auto	Auto-fixup values where possible	Automatically fills in values of segments and elements where possible. Valid values: ■ never — never autofill values of segments and elements. ■ toXML — autofill values of segments and elements only when converting from an EDI format to XML. ■ fromXML — autofill values of segments and elements only when converting from XML to an EDI format. ■ both — autofill values of segments and elements when converting from an EDI format to XML or vice versa. See “Autofilling Segments and Elements” for a list of which segments and elements are autofilled See also “noautofill”.
bom	Inserting a BOM while writing EDI to the Writer class	Inserts a BOM while writing EDI to the Writer class in Java with UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding. Valid values: ■ yes — inserts a BOM while writing. ■ no — begins writing without inserting a BOM. The default is no.
cent	Window for century cut-off	If the date is given in the file with a 2-digit year and the output requires a 4-digit year, this value is the cutoff so that the proper century can be selected.
cexpand	Fully expand HL7 CE/CF/CNE/CWE element	HL7 includes specialized composite elements that contain coded values, the text version of the code, and the lookup table for CE, CF, CNE, and CWE elements. Valid values: ■ yes — the converter attempts to expand all fields in the composite element. ■ no — the converter does not expand fields in the composite element. The CNE and CWE elements also allow pulling information from tables across versions of the standard. For example, an HL7 2.4 element could look up information from an HL7 2.5 table. These elements also have an "alternate" set of fields so that codes can be included in the native (HL7, for example) and foreign code list. The default is no.
chr	Character repertoire override	Allows the converter to override and alter character encodings for EDIFACT-based documents (such as EANCOM and IATA PADIS). You can use one or more of the following values, concatenated with a "+" symbol (chr=REPLACE+FINNISH, for example): ■ DEFAULT – the encoding specified in the file is used. This value cannot be used with any others. ■ EANCOM – support for these extra EANCOM characters to UNOA and UNOB are added: #, @, [, ], {, }, \, |, ‘, and ^. ■ SYMBOL – forces all characters, including special characters such as element and segment separators, that might otherwise be permitted to be validated against the encoding. ■ REPLACE – replaces invalid characters with the character specified by the invalid property. An underscore ("_") is used if the invalid property is not specified. If REPLACE is not specified, the converter throws an error. ■ FINNISH – changes the meaning of certain characters in the Finnish character set for UNOA and UNOB (and adds UNOY and UNOZ as synonyms for UNOA and UNOB respectively). See “FINNISH Character Set Overrides” for more information. See “Explicit Character Overrides” for more information.
clean	Remove linefeeds and nulls	Determines whether to remove linefeeds and nulls from EDI that is converted to XML and vice versa. Valid values: ■ both – removes line feeds and nulls when converting from XML and to XML. ■ fromXML – removes line feeds and nulls when converting from XML. ■ toXML – removes line feeds and nulls when converting to XML. ■ never – never removes line feeds or nulls. The default is both. See also “rtrim”.
component	Component value separator	Specifies the character that is used to separate component elements from each other within a composite element. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
compress	Compression method for EDI output	For ACORD AL3 only. Determines whether the run-length encoding (RLE) compression method is used for EDI output. Valid values: ■ none – no compression is used. ■ rle – RLE compression is used. The default is none.
continued	Line continuation character	Specifies the character that is appended to the segment terminator when each segment in an EDI message is split onto a new line. This character indicates to the server that the end of the interchange has not been reached. The character is appended to all segments in an interchange, except the last one. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. This property accepts the same values as “element” and “segment”. NOTE: This property is supported for all dialects except Cargo-IMP.
count	Enforce segment maximum counts	Determines whether the converter enforces segment counts as they are defined in the EDI repository. Valid values: ■ yes – repository counts are enforced. ■ no – repository counts are not enforced. ■ multi – if the repository allows only one instance, it is enforced; otherwise, it treats the count as unlimited. See also “auto”.
data	Generate EDI content	Controls whether sample data is generated with XML and EDI sample output files. Valid values: ■ minimal – the minimum amount of data required to validate the sample file is generated. ■ none – no sample data is generated. Headers and trailers are generated. ■ random – random strings are generated; codelist values are selected randomly to fill the data. The default is none. See also “emit”.
decimal	Decimal character	Specifies the symbol used for the decimal character in the converted file (usually a period or comma). This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
decname	Use DEC mode for all names in these segments	For ACORD AL3 only. AL3 fields can be broken up in two different ways: ■ DEC names are used to break the field into two smaller fields. ■ The first character of the field name is used to denote the field type. Use this property to specify the segments in which the field name should be treated as a DEC name. A valid value is a list of one or more segment names. Multiple segment names must be separated by a comma. The default is 5SNG.
decode	Where to place decoded data values	Specifies where to place code list value descriptions when converting EDI to XML. Valid values are: ■ no – code list table values are not output as XML: <ISA15><!--I14: Interchange Usage Indicator-->P</ISA15> ■ comment – adds the description as a comment. For example, <!--Production Data--> in the following code: <ISA15><!--I14: Interchange Usage Indicator-->P<!--Production Data--></ISA15> ■ attribute – adds the description as an attribute: <ISA15 decode="Production Data"><!--I14: Interchange Usage Indicator-->P</ISA15> ■ text – adds the code as an attribute, and the description as an element value: <ISA15 value="P">Production Data</ISA15> NOTE: The value property must also be set to attribute to generate this output. Turn off this and Comment element types (field ) to disable all comment generation. See also “value”.
delimiter	Delimiters to be used for quoted strings in flatfiles	Specifies the delimiter to use for quoted strings in flat files. The default is Q, which means you can use either single quotes (’) or double quotes ("). To specify a specific character, use the Unicode value. For example, a value of 0x22 specifies double quotes and a value of 0x27 specifies single quotes.
dialect	EDI dialect	Overrides the dialect that is detected by the converter of the file you are converting. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. Valid values: ■ AHM780 ■ AL3 ■ CARGO ■ EANCOM ■ EDIFACT ■ EDIG@S ■ HIPAA ■ HL7 ■ IATA ■ NCPDP ■ TELCO ■ TRADACOMS ■ X12 Use IATA to specify the PADIS dialect. See “XML Schema Generation” for more information about how this property affects XML Schema generation. See “HTML/XHTML Documentation Generation” for information about how this property affect HTML/XHTML documentation generation.
doc	Include xs:documentation	Determines whether to include xs:documentation comments in the XML Schema. Valid values: ■ yes – xs:documentation comments are included in the XML schema. ■ no – xs:documentation comments are not included in the XML schema. The default is yes. This property is used only for schema generation. See “XML Schema Generation” for more information.
element	Element separator	Specifies the character that is used to separate elements in a segment. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
emit	Level of sample data generated	Controls which optional segments are generated in XML and EDI sample output files. Valid values: ■ none – only mandatory and elements are created. ■ segments – all segments are created, but only mandatory elements within those segments are populated with sample data. ■ elements – all segments and all elements are created. The default is none. See also “data”.
empty	How to handle empty HL7 content	Controls how the converter manages empty fields. Empty tokens at the first level are never written to the XML file, regardless of how this property is set. In HL7 versions prior to 2.3, empty fields were treated as present, but without a value; in HL7 version 2.3 and later, empty fields are indicated with a set of double quotes. A missing field (a field for which there is no value in the data stream) does not display quotes. Valid values for this property are: ■ auto – the HL7 version determines how the converter treats empty fields: • For HL7 2.2 and earlier, the converter behaves as if empty=empty. • For HL7 2.3 and later, the converter behaves as if empty=quotes. ■ empty – all empty fields, with or without quotes, are treated as present, but empty (use for HL7 2.2 and earlier). ■ quotes – if the field has quotes, it is treated as empty (null value). For example, ’""’ is recognized as a marker for an empty field; otherwise, it is treated as missing, that is, there is no value in the data stream (use for HL7 2.3 and later). The default is auto.
empty (cont’d)		Consider the following examples for different conversion scenarios: ■ HL7 to XML, empty=empty - Empty top-level elements are not output. - Empty lower-level elements are output as as empty XML elements. - Elements containing paired double- quotes are passed through unchanged. ■ HL7 to XML, empty=quotes - Empty top-level elements are not output. - Empty lower-level elements are not output. - Elements containing paired double- quotes are output as empty XML elements. ■ XML to HL7, empty = empty - Empty elements are passed through as empty. - Elements containing paired double- quotes are passed through unchanged. ■ XML to HL7, empty = quotes - Empty elements are passed through as paired double-quotes. - Elements containing paired double- quotes are passed through unchanged.
encoding	Encoding	Specifies the encoding for the input file when the input file is not XML or the encoding for the output file when the output file is not XML. The default depends on the dialect of EDI and information encoded in the particular EDI file.
eol	Add linefeeds between segments on write	Allows you to put each segment on its own line when converting XML to EDI. (Extra linefeeds are ignored when converting EDI to XML.) Valid values are: ■ yes – the value specified in the line separator property (newline=) is used to separate each segment. The normal segment output character is also generated. ■ no –linefeeds between segments are not added. ■ integer between 1 and 1024 – specifies the number of columns on which to wrap a line. So, for example, eol=80 wraps the line at 80 columns. If you specify an integer, the last row is not padded out to the value you specify. The default is yes.
field	Comment element types	Creates a comment at the start of each element that includes the element’s name and number. For example, <!--I14: Interchange Usage Indicator--> in the following code: <ISA15><!--I14: Interchange Usage Indicator-->P<!--Production Data--></ISA15> Turn off this and Comment code list (decode) to disable all comment generation.
following	Segment name/segment content separator	In TRADACOMS data streams, the default character used to separate the segment name and segment contents is the equal sign (=). You can use the following= property to override the default character. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
group	Use message groups if provided	Allows you to add grouping elements to XML when converting EDI to XML. Grouping elements can make EDI messages in the converted XML easier to access with XPath for some types of documents. You may want to use this property if your EDI documents use multiple message groups. Valid values: ■ yes – wraps each message group with an extra <GROUP></GROUP> element. ■ always – wraps all output associated with an interchange (for example, everything from an ISA segment to its IEA segment, inclusive) in an <INTERCHANGE></INTERCHANGE> element. <GROUP></GROUP> elements are also used. ■ no – grouping elements are not added to the converted XML. The default is no. This property can also be used when generating XML Schema.
hexpand	Expand HL7 hex escapes	In HL7 data streams, \X is an escape sequence used to include hexadecimal data in the stream. Valid values ■ yes – expands the hexadecimal data. If the data is binary, an exception is thrown. ■ no – does not expand the hexadecimal data. The default is no.
hipaa	Enable HIPAA Auto-detection	Determines whether the converter should determine if an X12 file is a HIPAA file. Valid values: ■ yes – the converter determines whether the X12 file is a HIPAA file. If the file is a HIPAA file, HIPAA rules are used. If not, X12 rules are used. ■ no – the converter processes the file as an X12 document, even if it is recognized as a HIPAA document. ■ loop – same as yes, but this value also creates a nested loop structure for the converted XML and generated XML Schema, which can simplify this output’s use in XML mapping tools. The default is no.
ignore	Ignore specific errors	Allows you to specify which errors, if any, to ignore during XML conversion. The syntax for this field is ignore=n1,n2,n3.... For example, ignore=3,4,47 ignores errors 3, 4, and 47. This property can be used with the opt property to allow processing to continue even when the data stream is missing mandatory segments and data elements.
indent	Whether to indent XML output	Controls whether the XML output is indented. Valid values: ■ yes – XML output is indented. ■ no – XML output is not indented. blank (unspecified) – XML output is indented unless decode and field are both set to no. The default is blank (unspecified).
inter	Interactive messages	Certain EDI messages have alternate batch and interactive forms, depending on whether they are used between systems that have real-time connections. Valid values: ■ yes – the interactive form is used, if available. For example, in EDIFACT, the normal envelope of UNB/UNH/UNT/UNZ would be replaced by UIB/UIH/UIT/UIZ. ■ no – the alternate batch form is used. The default is no. This property is used only for schema generation. See “XML Schema Generation” for information on how this property affects XML Schema generation. See “HTML/XHTML Documentation Generation” for information about how this property affects HTML/XHTML documentation generation.
intra	Check intra-segment constraints	Controls whether intra-segment validation is performed for EDIFACT and X12 files. Valid values: ■ yes – Intra-segment validation is performed. ■ no – Intra-segment validation is not performed. The default is no.
invalid	Invalid character replacement	Used with the chr =REPLACE property to specify which character is used to replace invalid characters. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. Valid values: ■ \u#### – To specify a Unicode value, substituting the #### for the appropriate value. ■ \d#### – To specify a decimal value, substituting the #### for the appropriate value. The default is an underscore ("_"). See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for more information about how to specify values for this property.
iso	Format date and time in the XML output	Formats the date and time in the XML output. Valid values: ■ yes – date and time are formatted according to the ISO 8601 date and time formats. ■ no – date and time are not formatted. The default is no.
ldate	How to handle ’L’ HL7 date	Controls how the converter manages the L value (traditionally means "local system" in HL7) if it is passed as a date, time, datetime, or timestamp. Valid values: ■ header – The L value is replaced with the value of the MSH-7 element from the header. ■ current – The L value is replaced with the date and/or time that the message processing started. ■ error – The L value is treated as a syntax error. ■ pass – The L value is passed through unchanged.
leading	Ignore leading zeros on numbers	Determines whether the converter ignores leading zeros on numbers. Valid values: ■ yes – leading zeros on the value in the EDI and the value in the codelist are compared without any leading zeros. For example, a value of "012" matches a value of "12." This applies only to codelist validation, not to handling of numbers. ■ no – leading zeroes are not ignored. The default is no.
len	Strict validation on value lengths	For most EDI dialects, controls whether an element’s content is checked against the upper and lower length limits as defined by the relevant EDI specification. For Cargo-IMP, however, len= enables or disables checking the entire message length against the standard limit of 1600 characters. Because Cargo-IMP requires fixed positions of certain elements, element length checking is always performed. Valid values: ■ yes – length checking is enabled. ■ no – length checking is disabled. The default is no.
long	Use long element names	Determines whether to use long or short element and/or segment names in your XML conversions (FTX03-TextReference or FTX03, for example). Valid values are: ■ elements – long names are used for elements. (In previous versions, long=yes could be used. For naming consistency, long=yes has been deprecated.) ■ segments – long names are used for segments. ■ all – long names are used for both elements and segments. ■ none – abbreviated names are used for both. The default is none.
loop-prefix	Prefix GROUP_... tags with the enclosing message name	Allows you to prefix the name of a GROUP_no tag with the message name it appeared in. For example, <INVOIC>…<GROUP_1> becomes < INVOIC >…< INVOIC _GROUP_1>. The default is no.
loopnames	Use named loops	You can name loops (segment groups). Loop names appear in both auto-reply messages, XML output, and HTML/XHTML generated documentation. Valid values: ■ yes – naming for loops is turned on. ■ no – naming for loops is turned off. The default is no.
match	Get field count based on input row length	For ACORD AL3 only. Determines how the field count is determined. Valid values: ■ yes – preserves partial fields at the end of segments by not trimming spaces even from ZZZZZ elements. ■ no – the repository determines segment size. The default is no.
message	Message type	The type of EDI message being converted. Valid values vary based on dialect and version. See “XML Schema Generation” for information about how this property affects XML Schema generation. See “HTML/XHTML Documentation Generation” for information about how this property affects HTML/XHTML documentation generation. NOTE: Normally, you do not need to specify this property, but it is automatically gathered from the incoming stream. If you want to force the incoming message to be processed as another message, you can use this property to specify the alternate message. This does not mean that the conversion will fail if the incoming message does not equal this value; rather, it forces the incoming message to be processed as if the incoming message were this value. For an example code that would stop processing if the incoming message was not the message that was expected, see ??????.
newline	Line separator	Used when converting EDI to XML, and XML to EDI when the Add linefeeds between segments on write property (eol) is set to yes. See “Line Separator Values” for a list of commonly used values. The default is crlf.
noautofill	Segments and/or elements to not auto-fill	Specifies segments and elements that you do not want the converter to autofill (see “auto”). This property accepts a comma-separated list of segments or elements. ■ To specify segments, type the segment name followed by an asterisk (noautofill=UNB*, for example). ■ To specify elements, use the short form of the element name (noautofill=UIZ01, for example). See “Autofilling Segments and Elements” for a list of which segments and elements are autofilled
nochange	Unchanged fields with how many ?’s	For ACORD AL3 only. The ACORD standard provides two ways of marking fields that you want left at their current value on the receiving system. Valid values: ■ single – marks only the first character of a field with a question mark (?). ■ fill – marks all characters in a field with a question mark (?). The default is single.
numpad	Pad numbers with alternate characters	Specifies an alternate character to pad numbers in fixed-width fields if syntactically valid. NOTE: In a flat file conversion using the GENERIC converter, numbers may get padded with the NUL character (0x00). In this case, specify numpad=NUL.
opt	Treat all segments and elements as optional	Determines whether mandatory segments and elements are treated as optional, which can be useful if your provider declines to provide segments and elements that are considered mandatory according to the EDI specification and you know which segments and elements are missing. Valid values: ■ yes – all mandatory segments and mandatory data elements are treated as optional. ■ no – a missing mandatory segment or mandatory data element triggers an error. NOTE: You can use opt=no with the ignore property to ignore errors for missing mandatory segments (errors 39 and 9), missing mandatory data elements (error 4), or both. For example, opt=no and ignore=39,9 allows processing to continue even if the data stream is missing mandatory segments. The default is no.
prefix	Namespace prefix	Specifies the namespace prefix to be added, with the Namespace URI, to the root element. The prefix is added to all elements.
release	Release (escape) symbol	Specifies the release, or escape, character. It turns off special processing of the next character. Suppose your text message uses the same character that also was used to separate elements. The specified character is used to instruct the EDI processor to treat that character as a normal character and not as the end of the text. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
reorder	Sort and nest groups by inferred level	For ACORD AL3 only. Data segments in AL3 files can be in any sequence. This property controls the sequence of the data stream. Valid values: ■ as-is – the sequence of the data stream is not changed. ■ nest – the data stream is scanned for segment levels and the stream is sorted based on the implied message structure. ■ sort – the data stream is sorted based on information in the segment header. The default is as-is.
repeat	Repeat symbol	Specifies the repeat symbol for EDI dialects that use it. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
rtrim	Trim trailing delimiters	Typically, most trailing delimiters are removed automatically. But in the conversion process, new trailing delimiters are sometimes created. This property controls how the converter manages these trailing delimiters. Valid values: ■ no – trailing delimiters are not trimmed. ■ yes – trailing delimiters are trimmed as long as performance is not affected. ■ always – trailing delimiters are trimmed regardless of the impact on performance. You can also use this property to add additional spaces or padding: ■ pad1 – add spaces at the top-most level only. ■ pad2 – add spaces to the first two levels only (elements and composite elements that do not contain other composites). ■ pad3 – add spaces for every level of element. This value can create many empty elements (when converting to XML) and many empty delimiters (when converting to EDI). See also “clean”.
seg	Strict segment-ordering checking	Determines whether to check segment ordering as defined by the message. Valid values: yes – checks segment ordering. no – message and group definitions are ignored, which can cause data to be grouped incorrectly (<GROUP_n> tags are never emitted, for example). The default is yes.
segment	Segment separator	Specifies the character to use for segment separators. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
setup	Write setup segment if appropriate	When converting EDI to XML for EANCOM, EDIFACT, Edig@s, IATA, and NCPDP SCRIPT, you can generate UNA segments in the XML. This segment is also recognized when converting XML back to EDI as an alternative to using the segment= URI option. Valid values: ■ both – converts UNA segments in EDIFACT to XML and vice versa. Also generates an XML Schema for UNA when the schema generator is used. ■ default – as opposed to turning the emitting of a setup segment on or off explicitly, the converter uses the default value for the dialect. For example, for EDIFACT, the default segment is "from XML." For other dialects, the converter may generate the header segment in both directions. ■ toXML – converts UNA segments in EDIFACT to XML and generates an XML Schema when the schema generator is used. ■ fromXML – converts UNA elements in XML to UNA segments in EDI. ■ never – does not convert UNA segments to XML, or vice versa. The default is both.
sign	Use explicit ’+’ sign to denote positive numbers	For ACORD AL3 only. When writing AL3, the default for denoting a positive number is the space character. This property explicitly sets the plus sign (+) to denote positive characters. Valid values: ■ yes – the plus sign (+) is used to denote positive numbers. ■ no – the space character is used to denote positive numbers. The default is no.
strict	Strict validation mode	Determines whether to perform strict validation checking. Valid values: ■ yes – checks that all mandatory elements are present and ensures that no composite elements are in places where only simple elements are allowed. It also checks for extra elements at the end of segments that are not part of the specification. ■ no – does not perform strict validation. The default is no.
strip	Strip C-style comments	Determines whether content in the incoming EDI stream that is wrapped in C-style /* and */ comment delimiters is ignored. Valid values: ■ yes – ignores C-style comment delimiters. ■ no – does not ignore C-style comment delimiters. The default is no. NOTE: The default setting is no because ignoring the delimiters can result in a conflict with real EDI content. HL7 files used with or generated by certain systems may include this markup, for example.
syntax	Force the syntax level of the EDIFACT-style input	Determines the syntax level of the input. Valid values: ■ yes – allows EDIFACT-style input to be overridden from the assumed value in the UNB0101/0001 element. Also, it is especially useful when the input stream does not contain a UNB or UIB segment and one must be created. ■ no – does not allow EDIFACT-style input to be overridden. The default is no.
ta1	Include TA1 segment	Allows inclusion of the TA1 segment in the 999 reply. Valid values: ■ no – does not generate the TA1 segment in the reply. ■ yes – always generates the TA1 segment in the reply. ■ auto – uses the ISA14 setting from the incoming interchange to determine whether to add the TA1 segment in the reply. The default is no.
tbl	Force error if value not in code list	Determines whether the converter checks the value of an element for its presence in the codelist associated with that element. Valid values: ■ yes – values are checked for their presence in the codelist. If they are not found in the codelist, an error is generated. ■ no – values are not checked for their presence in a codelist. The default is no.
terminate	Stop reading the input	Specifies a character that stops the reading of the input during conversion. If the converter encounters the specified character, the input streaming stops at that character. This can be useful to define the end-of-file marker so that no data after this point will be read. This property only applies when reading from EDI and not for parsing XML.
tertiary	Subcomponent (tertiary) separator	Specifies the character to use for subcomponent separators. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. See “Using Special Characters for Separators” for information about how to specify values for this property.
toobig	Proper tuning of large segments	For some dialects, such as HL7, it is common to have large segments that can contain more than 100 elements. Normally, the error recovery algorithm is applied when large segments are encountered, and the converter assumes that separators are specified incorrectly or that the input is corrupt. This property specifies a limit on the number of elements.
typ	Strict datatype content checking	Ensures that only characters that are appropriate for a given field are included in the value for that field. For example, this property ensures that dates are valid and numbers are well-formed.
unbounded	Upper limit on maxOccurs, or unbounded	Determines whether an upper threshold is enforced on maxOccurs. For example, if unbounded=50, all occurrences of maxOccurs in an XML schema that have a value of 50 or higher are changed to unbounded. Valid values: ■ A positive integer greater than 1 – sets the upper threshold on maxOccurs. ■ unbounded – does not set an upper threshold on maxOccurs. The default is unbounded.
uri	Namespace URI	Specifies a namespace URI to be added, with the Namespace prefix, to the root element. If the prefix is set, but the URI is not, the prefix is ignored.
user	Extension map file	Specifies the URL of the SEF file containing custom message type definitions. This property can also be used when generating an XML Schema.
val	Enable validation	Determines whether validation is enabled. Valid values: ■ yes – validation is enabled. The version, release, messages and segments of the EDI file (input or output) is compared to the relevant EDI repository. If the EDI file contains a value that is not in the EDI repository, an error is thrown. ■ no – validation is disabled. Processing continues even if the EDI file contains a version, release, message, or segment that is not in the repository. When processing an unknown version, release, message, or segment, some checks cannot be performed because the structure of the required data is unknown. For example, if a file is of a known version but contains an unknown segment, data type checking for that segment is not performed, but checks on the remainder of the file are performed as usual. Similarly, if a message does not exist in the EDI repository, the file is still processed, but segment order checking is not performed. The default is yes.
value	Where to place coded data values	Allows you to specify where to place coded data values in XML output. Valid values: ■ text – outputs the coded data value (here, 00) in the text node: <BGN01><!--353: Transaction Set Purpose Code-->00</BGN01> ■ attribute – outputs the coded data value as an attribute: <BGN01 value="00"><!--353: Transaction Set Purpose Code--></BGN01> See also “decode”.
version	Dialect version	Overrides the version of the input file that is detected by the converter. This property affects EDI-to-XML conversion and vice versa. Valid values vary based on the specified dialect (see“dialect”). See “XML Schema Generation” for more information about how this property affects XML Schema generation. See “HTML/XHTML Documentation Generation” for more information about how this property affects HTML/XHTML documentation generation.
xr	Type of transaction message to be generated	Specifies the type of transaction message to be generated. For example, if set to a value of 999, a 999 response message is generated instead of generating the 997 response message. Valid values: ■ 997 – a 997 response message will be generated for transactions. ■ 999 – a 999 response message will be generated for transactions. NOTE: If you specify xr=999, make sure that the version of X12 being used supports the 999 response message, which was introduced in version 005010. This property is HIPAA-aware; therefore, for version 0050x0, it writes the 005010X231 version of 999, and for 0060x0, it writes the 006010X290 version. The default is 997.
zz	Include ZZMOV and/or ZZDEL in output	For ACORD AL3 only. Affects whether moved (ZZMOV) or deleted (ZZDEL) fields in a file are emitted to XML. Valid values: ■ none – no ZZ* elements are emitted. ■ delete – only ZZDEL elements are emitted. ■ move – only ZZMOV elements are emitted. ■ all – all ZZ* elements are emitted. The default is none.

FINNISH Character Set Overrides

You can use the Character repertoire override property (see “chr”) to change the meaning of certain characters for the Finnish character set for UNOA (UNOY) and UNOB (UNOZ). The following table shows which characters are changed based on the character set in use.

Table 5-10. Character Encoding Overrides

Character From	Character To	Applicable Character Sets	Unicode Name
[	Ä	UNOA/UNOY, UNOB/UNOZ	Latin capital letter A with diaeresis
\	Ö	UNOA/UNOY, UNOB/UNOZ	Latin capital letter O with diaeresis
]	Å	UNOA/UNOY, UNOB/UNOZ	Latin capital letter A with ring above
^	Ü	UNOA/UNOY, UNOB/UNOZ	Latin capital letter U with diaeresis
{	ä	UNOB/UNOZ	Latin small letter a with diaeresis
|	ö	UNOB/UNOZ	Latin small letter o with diaeresis
}	Å	UNOB/UNOZ	Latin small letter a with ring above
~	ü	UNOB/UNOZ	Latin small letter u with diaeresis

Explicit Character Overrides

In addition to the modifiers you can specify using the Character repertoire override property (see “chr”), you can instruct the DataDirect XML Converters to take character encodings from the URI, instead of from the EDIFACT-style UNB or UIB 001 element. If you choose to do this, you can use the encodings described in the following table:

Table 5-11. Character Encoding Overrides

Property Name	Description
UNOA or IATA	UN/ECE level A (upper case only)
UNOB or IATA	UN/ECE level B (same as UNOA but including lower case)
UNOC or IATC	UN/ECE level C (ISO-8859-1 or Latin-1/Western European)
UNOD or IATD	UN/ECE level D (ISO-8859-2 or Latin-2/Central European)
UNOE or IATE	UN/ECE level E (ISO-8859-5 or Latin/Cyrillic)
UNOF or IATF	UN/ECE level F (ISO-8859-7 or Latin/Greek)
UNOG or IATG	UN/ECE level G (ISO-8859-3 or Latin-3/South European)
UNOH or IATH	UN/ECE level H (ISO-8859-4 or Latin-4/North European)
UNOI or IATI	UN/ECE level I (ISO-8859-6 or Latin/Arabic)
UNOJ or IATJ	UN/ECE level J (ISO-8859-8 or Latin/Hebrew)
UNOK or IATK	UN/ECE level K (ISO-8859-9 or Latin-5/Turkish)
UNOQ or IATQ	UN/ECE level Q (ISO-8859-15 or Latin-9/)
UNOW or IATW	UN/ECE level W (ISO 10646-1 octet with code extension technique to support UTF-8)
UNOX	Unsupported. An external library must be used to handle the encoding prior to supplying the data stream to the DataDirect XML Converters.
UNOY or IATY	UN/ECE level Y (ISO 10646-1 octet without code extension technique.); also Finnish UNOA
UNOZ or IATZ	Finnish UNOB

These can also be combined with other chr= options. For example, an EDI file might specify an UNOA encoding, but with lower-case text, because the sending system sent inconsistent data. Using chr=UNOB+REPLACE, the data could be consumed, and any non-UNOB characters would turn into '_' characters, allowing processing to continue.

The DataDirect XML Converters do not perform character checking for UNOX; rather it depends on the native platform converter or the application to ensure that the characters are valid. This is because there are too many implementation-specific details, subsets, and proprietary and local extensions, and it is not possible to account for them all.

Using Special Characters for Separators

Most special characters or symbols cannot be entered directly into a URL. For example, you cannot specify that the colon (:) is the element separator character by entering converter:EDI:element=::auto=both. Instead, you must escape special characters using the appropriate decimal or hexadecimal value. To specify a colon as an element separator character, you would use converter:EDI:element=\u3A:auto=both.

NOTE: The special characters that are supported vary depending on the specified EDI dialect.

See Table 5-12, “Common Separator Characters” for a complete list of separator characters and their decimal and hexadecimal values.

Which Properties Specify Separators?

The following properties can be used to specify separators for the EDI XML Converter:

■	“component”

■	“continued”

■

“decimal”

■	“delimiter”

■

“element”

■	“following”

■

“numpad”

■

“release”

■

“repeat”

■

“segment”

■	“terminate”

■	“tertiary”

Restrictions for Separator Characters

The following restrictions apply for using separator characters.

■	The values you set for separator properties apply only when converting XML to EDI.

■	You cannot use letters, numbers, or spaces for separator characters.

■	You must use unique values for each separator property.

Commonly Used Separator Characters

Commonly used separator characters and their escape values (in decimal and hexadecimal) are shown in the following table.

Table 5-12. Common Separator Characters

Character	Decimal	Hexadecimal
~	\d126	\u007E
!	\d33	\u0021
@	\d64	\u0040
#	\d35	\u0023
$	\d36	\u0024
%	\d37	\u0025
^	\d94	\u005E
&	\d38	\u0026
*	\d42	\u002A
(	\d40	\u0028
)	\d41	\u0029
_	\d95	\u005F
+	\d43	\u002B
`	\d96	\u0060
-	\d45	\u002D
=	\d61	\u003D
[	\d91	\u005B
]	\d93	\u005D
}	\d123	\u007B
{	\d125	\u007D
\	\d92	\u005C
|	\d124	\u007C
’	\d39	\u0027
;	\d59	\u003B
"	\d34	\u0022
:	\d58	\u003A
/	\d47	\u002F
.	\d46	\u002E
,	\d44	\u002C
?	\d63	\u003F
>	\d62	\u003E
<	\d60	\u003C

Control Characters

You can also use the non-printable control characters shown in the following table as separators.

Table 5-13. Control Characters

Character	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Other
NUL	\d0	\u0000
SOH	\d1	\u0001
STX	\d2	\u0002
ETX	\d3	\u0003
EOT	\d4	\u0004
ENQ	\d5	\u0005
ACK	\d6	\u0006
BEL	\d7	\u0007
BELL	\d7	\u7000
BS	\d8	\u0008
HT	\d9	\u0009	\t
TAB	\d9	\u0009	\t
LF	\d10	\u000A	\n
VT	\d11	\u000B
FF	\d12	\u000C	\f
CR	\d13	\u000D	\r
SO	\d14	\u000E
SI	\d15	\u000F
DLE	\d16	\u0010
DC1 (XON)	\d17	\u0011
DC2	\d18	\u0012
DC3 (XOFF)	\d19	\u0013
DC4	\d\0	\u0014
NAK	\d21	\u0015
SYN	\d22	\u0016
ETB	\d23	\u0017
CAN	\d24	\u0017
EM	\d25	\u0019
SUB	\d26	\u001a
ESC	\d27	\u001b
FS	\d28	\u001c
GS	\d29	\u001d
RS	\d30	\u001e
US	\d31	\u001f
DEL	\d127	\u007F
BPH	\d130	\u0082
NBH	\d131	\u0083
IND	\d132	\u0084
NEL	\d133	\u0085
SSA	\d134	\u0086
ESA	\d135	\u0087
HTS	\d136	\u0088
HTJ	\d137	\u0089
VTS	\d138	\u008A
PLD	\d139	\u008B
PLU	\d140	\u008C
RI	\d141	\u008D
SS2	\d142	\u008E
SS3	\d143	\u008F
DCS	\d144	\u0090
PU1	\d145	\u0091
PU2	\d146	\u0092
STS	\d147	\u0093
CCH	\d148	\u0094
MW	\d149	\u0095
SPA	\d150	\u0096
EPA	\d151	\u0097
SOS	\d152	\u0098
SCI	\d154	\u009A
CSI	\d155	\u009B
ST	\d156	\u009C
OSC	\d157	\u009D
PM	\d158	\u009E
APC	\d159	\u009F
NBS (NBSP)	\d160	\u00A0
SHY	\d173	\u00AD

EDI Processing Instructions

You can specify EDI processing instruction (PI) values in the EDI XML Converter URI as described in the following table.

Table 5-14. Properties for EDI Processing Instructions

Processing Instruction	Name in URI	Description	Default
edi_component	component	Component value separator.	:
edi_continued	continued	Line continuation character	No default
edi_decimal	decimal	Decimal character.	,
edi_delimiter	delimiter	Delimiter for quoted strings	Q
edi_element	element	Element separator.	+
edi_following	following	Segment name/segment content	=
edi_invalid	invalid	Invalid character replacement	_
edi_numpad	numpad	Pad numbers with alternate characters	No default
edi_release	release	Release (escape) separator.	?
edi_repeat	repeat	Repeat symbol separator.	~
edi_segment	segment	Segment separator.	’
edi_terminate	terminate	Stop processing character	No default
edi_tertiary	tertiary	Subcomponent (tertiary) separator.	&

Leave these values blank to assume the default values. DataDirect XML Converters generates an error if a PI and URI switch have conflicting values, or if either value conflicts with one of the values encoded in a segment for these values.

The syntax of an EDI processing instruction is <?, followed by processing instruction name (edi_segment, for example), followed by a space, and then the new special character.

Example

Suppose an X12 document had to be written so that the segment terminator was a carriage return, the element separator was an asterisk, and the component separator was the greater-than symbol. The start of the file might look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<?edi_segment \r?>

<?edi_element *?>

<X12>

   <ISA>

      <ISA01><!--I01: Authorization Information Qualifier-->00</ISA01>

      <ISA02><!--I02: Authorization Information--></ISA02>

      <ISA03><!--I03: Security Information Qualifier-->00</ISA03>

      <ISA04><!--I04: Security Information--></ISA04>

      <ISA05><!--I05: Interchange ID Qualifier-->01</ISA05>

      <ISA06><!--I06: Interchange Sender ID-->1515151515</ISA06>

      <ISA07><!--I05: Interchange ID Qualifier-->01</ISA07>

      <ISA08><!--I07: Interchange Receiver ID-->5151515151</ISA08>

      <ISA09><!--I08: Interchange Date-->041201<!--2004-12-01--></ISA09>

      <ISA10><!--I09: Interchange Time-->1217</ISA10>

      <ISA11><!--I65: Repetition Separator-->U</ISA11>

      <ISA12><!--I11: Interchange Control Version-->00403</ISA12>

      <ISA13><!--I12: Interchange Control Number-->000032123</ISA13>

      <ISA14><!--I13: Acknowledgment Requested-->0</ISA14>

      <ISA15><!--I14: Usage Indicator-->P</ISA15>

      <ISA16><!--I15: Component Element Separator-->></ISA16>

   </ISA>

...

Stopping a Conversion If the Input Does Not Match What is Expected

You may want to terminate the input if the input contains an incorrect message. If the auto-detection feature incorrectly identifies the message type from the incoming data, you can use the message= URI property to force the incoming message to act in a different way.

To quickly terminate the input, a "detector" program can be used. The following program reads a sufficient amount of data from an EDI file. It determines if the file matches the given specifications, and if the file does not, the conversion is quickly terminated.

Example

The program uses the XML Converters library and the listener interface. It works because the XML Converters are designed to stream data. When the converters see input, they immediately write the output. The program reads data and looks for the dialect, version, and message properties, and terminates the conversion as soon as these properties are seen. The system then discards the output obtained from the conversion process.

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.Writer;

 

import javax.xml.transform.Result;

import javax.xml.transform.Source;

import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;

import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;

 

import com.ddtek.xmlconverter.Converter;

import com.ddtek.xmlconverter.ConverterFactory;

import com.ddtek.xmlconverter.adapter.edi.EDIConverterListener;

import com.ddtek.xmlconverter.adapter.edi.EDISegmentDetails;

import com.ddtek.xmlconverter.exception.ConverterException;

 

/**

* This program will accept one or more EDI files as arguments.

* First, it processes them until it sees the first StartMessage event,

* writing the results to null output.

* Next, it throws a benign exception to stop processing and

* checks the dialect, version, and message against what is expected.

* If they match, it restarts processing and transforms the message into an

* XML file with the same base name as the input file.

* If they do not match, it stops processing as if an error were encountered.

*/

public class Stopper {

 

// public static final String DIALECT = "X12";

// public static final String VERSION = "004030";

// public static final String MESSAGE = "831";

   public static final String DIALECT = "HL7";

   public static final String VERSION = "2.1";

   public static final String MESSAGE = "ORU";

 

   public static void main(String[] args) {

      for (String arg : args)

           new Stopper(arg);

   }

 

   public Stopper(String arg) {

      ConverterFactory factory = new ConverterFactory();

      Converter toXml;

         try {

            toXml = factory.newConvertToXML("converter:EDI:tbl=no:opt=yes");

         } catch (ConverterException ce) {

            ce.printStackTrace();

            return;

         }

         EDIConverterListener listener = new MessageListener();

 

         String out = null;

            // yields "xml" if the input has no '.'

         try {

            out = arg.substring(0, arg.indexOf('.') 1) "xml";

 

            Source converterSource;

            Result converterResult;

 

            // the first pass is to check for conformity

            try {

               toXml.getConfiguration().setConverterListener(listener);

               converterSource = new StreamSource(arg);

               converterResult = new StreamResult(new NullWriter());

               toXml.convert(converterSource, converterResult);

               throw new StopException(null);

            // make sure we handle case where EDI contains no message

            } catch (StopException exception) {

               if ( !isSame(DIALECT, exception.dialect)

                      || !isSame(VERSION, exception.version)

                      || !isSame(MESSAGE, exception.message)) {

                      System.out.println("[Stopper] error! " arg " is not a
                      " DIALECT " " VERSION " " MESSAGE);

                      return;

               }

            }

 

            // yes, it's okay to re-use the converter

            toXml.getConfiguration().setConverterListener(null);

            converterSource = new StreamSource(arg);

            converterResult = new StreamResult(out);

            toXml.convert(converterSource, converterResult);

 

            System.out.println("[Stopper] completed: " arg " -> " out);

         } catch (ConverterException exception) {

            System.out.println("[Stopper] failed: " arg " -> " out);

            System.out.println("[Stopper] failed with exception:
            " exception);

         }

 

   }

 

   private boolean isSame(String one, String two) {

      if (one == two)

         return true; // catches both same, or both null

         if (one == null || two == null)

            return false; // catches either null

         return one.replaceAll("[-. ]", "").
         equals(two.replaceAll("[-. ]", ""));

   }

 

   public static class StopException extends ConverterException {

      public String dialect;

      public String version;

      public String message;

      public StopException(EDISegmentDetails details) {

         super("");

         dialect = details == null ? null : details.getDialect();

         version = details == null ? null : details.getMessageVersion();

         message = details == null ? null : details.getTransactionSet();

      }

         private static final long serialVersionUID = -98684742021305872L;

   }

 

   public static class NullWriter extends Writer {

      public void write(char[] cbuf, int off, int len) throws IOException { }

         public void flush() throws IOException { }

         public void close() throws IOException { }

   }

 

   public static class MessageListener implements EDIConverterListener {

      public void error(ConverterException exception) throws ConverterException {

   throw exception; // take this out to make recoverable errors recover

      }

   public void fatalError(ConverterException exception) throws ConverterException {

      // no matter what we do here, an exception is thrown by the caller

      }

      public void warning(ConverterException exception) throws ConverterException {

      System.out.println("[Stopper] warning: " exception.toString());

      }

 

      public void startInterchange(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public void startGroup(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public void startMessage(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception {

         throw new StopException(details); // we've seen enough, now exit

      }

      public void processSegment(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public void endMessage(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public void endGroup(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public void endInterchange(EDISegmentDetails details) throws Exception { }

      public int invalidCharacter(char chr, String coding) {

      return -1; // let it throw!

      }

         public String unknownCodelistValue(String segment, int pos, int sub, int tri, int rep, String element, String item) {

         return null; // let it throw!

         }

   }

}

Autofilling Segments and Elements

By default, the values of segments and elements are autofilled during the conversion from XML to an EDI format or vice versa. You can change the default behavior by setting the following XML EDI Converter URI properties:

■	auto property determines whether autofilling is enabled or disabled. You can enable autofilling for the following types of conversions:

●	From the EDI format to XML (auto=toXML)

●	From the XML format to the EDI format (auto=fromXML)

●	From either the EDI format or the XML format (auto=both)

To disable autofilling, use auto=never. When autofilling is enabled, the values of elements that are autofilled depend on the specified dialect as described in Table 5-15.

■	noautofill property excludes specific segments or elements from being autofilled when autofilling is enabled. For example, to autofill all segments and elements except the UNB and UNZ segments, you could use the following Converter URI fragment:

auto=both:noautofill=UNB*,UNZ*

Table 5-15. Autofilled Elements For Each Dialect 

dialect Property Value	Elements
AHM780	None.
AL3	If the group (segment) header is not supplied, sequence numbers are autofilled.
CARGO	None.
EANCOM	UIB0801, UIB0802, UIT01, UIT02, UIZ0101, UIZ0102, UIZ0103, UIZ0104, UIZ02, UIZ03, UNB0401, UNB0402, UNG0401, UNG0402, UNT01, UNT02, UNZ01, and UNZ02.
EDIFACT	UIB0801, UIB0802, UIT01, UIT02, UIZ0101, UIZ0102, UIZ0103, UIZ0104, UIZ02, UIZ03, UNB0401, UNB0402, UNG0401, UNG0402, UNT01, UNT02, UNZ01, and UNZ02.
EDIG@S	UIB0801, UIB0802, UIT01, UIT02, UIZ0101, UIZ0102, UIZ0103, UIZ0104, UIZ02, UIZ03, UNB0401, UNB0402, UNG0401, UNG0402, UNT01, UNT02, UNZ01, and UNZ02.
HIPAA	CTT01, CTT02, G8501 (calculated CRC value), GE01, GE02, GS04, GS05, IEA01, IEA02, ISA01 (defaults to 00 if missing), ISA03 (defaults to 00 if missing), ISA05 (defaults to ZZ if missing), ISA07 (defaults to ZZ if missing), ISA09 (defaults to YYMMDD if missing), ISA10 (defaults to HHMM if missing), ISA11, ISA12, ISA16 (component element separator, if specified in URI), SE01, and SE02.
HL7	All CE/CF/CNE/CWE-type elements (controlled by cexpand= URI property), MSH.1, and MSH.2
IATA	UIB0801, UIB0802, UIT01, UIT02, UIZ0101, UIZ0102, UIZ0103, UIZ0104, UIZ02, UIZ03, UNB0401, UNB0402, UNG0401, UNG0402, UNT01, UNT02, UNZ01, and UNZ02.
NCPDP	UIB0801, UIB0802, UIT01, UIT02, UIZ0101, UIZ0102, UIZ0103, UIZ0104, UIZ02, UIZ03, UNB0401, UNB0402, UNG0401, UNG0402, UNT01, UNT02, UNZ01, and UNZ02.
TELCO	Values for the COUNT and COUNTING fields are calculated based on the number of elements.
TRADACOMS	ATR01, DNA01, END01, EOB01, MHD01, MTR01, PAT01, RSG01, RSG02, STX0401, and STX0402. Also, if any of the following elements appear, they are autofilled: APSE, APSI, ASDA, ASDT, CONA1, CTOT1, EVLA, EVLT, EXLV, FASE, FASI, FASU1, FBAB1, FPSE, FPSI, FPSU1, FTAK, FTAR, FTCO, FTDE, FTNA, FTNC, FTND, FTNE, FTNI, FTNP, FTNS, FTOP1, FTOR, FTPC, FTSR, FTUP, FVAT, ISTO, LACK, LCON, LDEL, LOCD, LORD, LUPL, LVLA, LVLT, NOLR, NOPP, NOPR, NOTX, PTOT1, SDCD, SEDT, SEQA, SEQB, SEQC, SEQD, SLAJ, SLSN, SRAP, SRDT, SRLC, SRVT, STLD, STLN, STPT, TBTL1, TOTL, TOTV, TPSE, TPSI, TVAT, TVLC, TVLD, TVLP, UCSI1, UPSI1, USDI1, UTVA1, UVAT1, UVLA1, UVLT1, UVTT1, VATA, VPSE, VPSI, VSDE, VSDI, VTVC1, and VVAT.
X12	CTT01, CTT02, G8501 (calculated CRC value), GE01, GE02, GS04, GS05, IEA01, IEA02, ISA01 (defaults to 00 if missing), ISA03 (defaults to 00 if missing), ISA05 (defaults to ZZ if missing), ISA07 (defaults to ZZ if missing), ISA09 (defaults to current date in YYMMDD if missing), ISA10 (defaults to HHMM if missing), ISA11, ISA12, ISA16, SE01, and SE02.