VDATranslator Class

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The VDATranslator class is optimized for VDA translation, providing a simple way to convert VDA documents to and from XML or JSON.

Syntax

class ipworksedi.VDATranslator

Remarks

The class provides a way to convert VDA to XML or JSON and vice versa.

Getting Started

The class will convert a document from the format specified by input_format to the format specified by output_format. In practice this allows for converting to XML or JSON from EDI and vice versa.

Before translating from EDI to XML or JSON it is recommended to load a schema using the load_schema method. This ensures additional information can be included in the XML or JSON document. If a schema is specified the XML or JSON will include types and descriptions as element attributes which are useful for interpreting the data.

EDI elements may optionally be renamed when creating XML. To define how an element is renamed add a renaming rule by calling add_renaming_rule.

After calling translate the resulting output will contain the EDI, XML or JSON data as defined by output_format. If the output data is XML the export_xml_schema method may be called to export a schema (.xsd) defining the structure of a valid XML document. XML documents which adhere to this document may be translated from XML to EDI.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

Property List

The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

input_dataThe data to translate.
input_fileThe file to translate.
input_formatThe format of the input data.
output_dataThe translated data.
output_fileThe file to which the translated data will be written.
output_formatThe format of the output data.
overwriteWhether to overwrite the file.
renaming_ruleThe rule defining how EDI elements are renamed when translating to XML or JSON.
renaming_rule_countThe number of renaming rules.
renaming_rule_indexThe index of the current renaming rule.
schema_formatThe format of the schema file.
suffixWhat to append after each segment delimiter.
use_schema_nameWhether the output XML uses element names based on name defined in the schema.

Method List

The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

add_renaming_ruleThis method adds a renaming rule to define how an EDI element is renamed when translating to XML.
configSets or retrieves a configuration setting.
display_schema_infoReturns a string showing the structure of the schema defining the document.
export_xml_schemaExports a XML schema.
generate_ackGenerates an EDI acknowledgement.
load_renaming_rulesLoads a set of renaming rules from file.
load_schemaLoads a schema file describing a Transaction Set.
resetResets the state of the control.
save_renaming_rulesSaves the current renaming rule set to a file.
translateTranslates the specified data.

Event List

The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

on_end_functional_groupFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of an interchange.
on_end_interchangeFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of an interchange.
on_end_loopFires when the end of a loop is detected in a transaction set.
on_end_transactionFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of a transaction.
on_errorFired when information is available about errors during data delivery.
on_resolve_schemaFires whenever a new transaction set is encountered and no schema is found for it.
on_segmentFires whenever a data segment in a transaction set is read.
on_start_functional_groupFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of a functional group.
on_start_interchangeFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of an interchange.
on_start_loopFires when the starting of a loop is detected in a transaction set.
on_start_transactionFires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of a transaction.
on_warningFires whenever a validation warning is encountered.

Config Settings

The following is a list of config settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

ComponentDelimiterThe delimiter character to use to separate classes.
CrossFieldValidationEnabledEnables cross-field validation rules.
ElementDelimiterThe delimiter character to use to separate data elements.
EncodingThe character encoding to be applied when reading and writing data.
IncludeEmptyElementsWhether to include empty data elements in a composite element.
IncludeFootersWhether to include footer information in the XML.
JSONElementPrefixAn optional prefix for reserved names when translating to JSON.
LastIXControlNumberThe control number of the most recently parsed interchange.
LastTransactionControlNumberThe control number of the most recently parsed transaction.
ReleaseCharThe character to use to escape delimiters within values.
RenamingRulesDataThe renaming rules data.
RepetitionCharThe repetition character.
SegmentDelimiterThe delimiter character to use to separate segments.
StrictSchemaValidationSpecifies the behavior during schema validation.
UseXMLCommentsWhether the human readable description is stored as an attribute or XML comments.
BuildInfoInformation about the product's build.
CodePageThe system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations.
LicenseInfoInformation about the current license.
MaskSensitiveWhether sensitive data is masked in log messages.
ProcessIdleEventsWhether the class uses its internal event loop to process events when the main thread is idle.
SelectWaitMillisThe length of time in milliseconds the class will wait when DoEvents is called if there are no events to process.
UseFIPSCompliantAPITells the class whether or not to use FIPS certified APIs.
UseInternalSecurityAPIWhether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation.

input_data Property

The data to translate.

Syntax

def get_input_data() -> str: ...
def set_input_data(value: str) -> None: ...

input_data = property(get_input_data, set_input_data)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the data to be translated. This may be set to EDI data or XML/JSON data. To specify the type of data held by the property set input_format.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

input_file Property

The file to translate.

Syntax

def get_input_file() -> str: ...
def set_input_file(value: str) -> None: ...

input_file = property(get_input_file, set_input_file)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the file to be processed. Set this property to the full or relative path to the file which will be processed. To specify the type of data in the input file set input_format.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

input_format Property

The format of the input data.

Syntax

def get_input_format() -> int: ...
def set_input_format(value: int) -> None: ...

input_format = property(get_input_format, set_input_format)

Default Value

5

Remarks

This property specifies the format of the input data. The value set here, along with output_format, determines how the data is converted when translate is called.

Possible values are:

  • 0 (ifXML)
  • 1 (ifJSON)
  • 5 (ifVDA)
Before calling translate, both input_format and output_format must be specified. Translation from XML or JSON to EDI and vice versa are supported. If input_format is ifXML or ifJSON, output_format must be an EDI format. Similarly, if input_format is an EDI format, output_format must be ofXML or ofJSON.

output_data Property

The translated data.

Syntax

def get_output_data() -> str: ...
def set_output_data(value: str) -> None: ...

output_data = property(get_output_data, set_output_data)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property will be populated with the translated data after calling translate if output_file and set_output_stream are not set.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:
  • output_file
  • output_data: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

output_file Property

The file to which the translated data will be written.

Syntax

def get_output_file() -> str: ...
def set_output_file(value: str) -> None: ...

output_file = property(get_output_file, set_output_file)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies the file to which the translated data will be written. This may be set to an absolute or relative path. This should be set before calling translate.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:
  • output_file
  • output_data: The output data is written to this property if no other destination is specified.

output_format Property

The format of the output data.

Syntax

def get_output_format() -> int: ...
def set_output_format(value: int) -> None: ...

output_format = property(get_output_format, set_output_format)

Default Value

0

Remarks

This property specifies the format of the output data. The value set here, along with input_format, determines how the data is converted when translate is called.

Possible values are:

  • 0 (ofXML)
  • 1 (ofJSON)
  • 5 (ofVDA)
Before calling translate, both input_format and output_format must be specified. Translation from XML or JSON to EDI and vice versa are supported. If input_format is ifXML or ifJSON, output_format must be an EDI format. Similarly, if input_format is an EDI format, output_format must be ofXML or ofJSON.

overwrite Property

Whether to overwrite the file.

Syntax

def get_overwrite() -> bool: ...
def set_overwrite(value: bool) -> None: ...

overwrite = property(get_overwrite, set_overwrite)

Default Value

FALSE

Remarks

This property specifies whether the file is overwritten. If set to False (default) the class fails with an error when attempting to write to a file which already exists. If set to True the class will overwrite the existing file. This property is applicable to the following methods:

renaming_rule Property

The rule defining how EDI elements are renamed when translating to XML or JSON.

Syntax

def get_renaming_rule() -> str: ...
def set_renaming_rule(value: str) -> None: ...

renaming_rule = property(get_renaming_rule, set_renaming_rule)

Default Value

""

Remarks

The renaming rule specified by renaming_rule_index. Renaming rules are optional.

The renaming rule defines how EDI elements are renamed when translating to XML or JSON. The format is: 

ediname:xmlanme
For instance: "UNH1:MsgRefNumber".

Note: Renaming rules are not required when converting from XML or JSON to EDI.

renaming_rule_count Property

The number of renaming rules.

Syntax

def get_renaming_rule_count() -> int: ...

renaming_rule_count = property(get_renaming_rule_count, None)

Default Value

0

Remarks

This property returns the current number of renaming rules.

This property is read-only.

renaming_rule_index Property

The index of the current renaming rule.

Syntax

def get_renaming_rule_index() -> int: ...
def set_renaming_rule_index(value: int) -> None: ...

renaming_rule_index = property(get_renaming_rule_index, set_renaming_rule_index)

Default Value

-1

Remarks

This property specifies the current renaming rule. Valid values are from 0 to renaming_rule_count - 1.

When set renaming_rule is populated with the renaming rule identified by the index.

schema_format Property

The format of the schema file.

Syntax

def get_schema_format() -> int: ...
def set_schema_format(value: int) -> None: ...

schema_format = property(get_schema_format, set_schema_format)

Default Value

0

Remarks

Set schema_format before calling the load_schema method to specify the loading schema format.

The following schema formats are supported:

0 (schemaAutomatic - default) The schema type is automatically determined based on file extension.
1 (schemaBinary) A binary schema that was previously compiled by calling compile_schema.
2 (schemaBizTalk) BizTalk (XSD): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa559426(v=BTS.70).aspx
3 (schemaSEF) TIBCO Standard Exchange Format (SEF): https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-foresight-edisim-6-18-0
5 (schemaAltova) Altova: http://www.altova.com/
6 (schemaJSON) JSON

suffix Property

What to append after each segment delimiter.

Syntax

def get_suffix() -> int: ...
def set_suffix(value: int) -> None: ...

suffix = property(get_suffix, set_suffix)

Default Value

3

Remarks

If suffix is different from suffixNone, trailing (suffix) characters are appended after each segment delimiter. This is useful if you want to have a carriage return/line feed after each segment to make the document more readable.

use_schema_name Property

Whether the output XML uses element names based on name defined in the schema.

Syntax

def get_use_schema_name() -> bool: ...
def set_use_schema_name(value: bool) -> None: ...

use_schema_name = property(get_use_schema_name, set_use_schema_name)

Default Value

FALSE

Remarks

This setting specifies whether the XML element name written to output is taken from the Id of the element defined in the schema. It is only applicable to ArcESB JSON schemas. For instance, given an EDIFACT document with the segment: 

BGM+380:::TAX INVOICE

When this setting is True the XML generated may look like: 

<BGM type="Segment">
<C002 type="Composite" desc="DOCUMENT/MESSAGE NAME">
<_1001 desc="Document/message name, coded">380</_1001>
<_1131 desc="Code list qualifier"></_1131>
<_3055 desc="Code list responsible agency, coded"></_3055>
<_1000 desc="Document/message name">TAX INVOICE</_1000>
</C002>

Where the elements "_1001", "C002", etc. are taken from the Id values of the EDI elements in the schema files.

Note: In order to produce valid XML, elements that would begin with a digit are prefixed with the "_" character.

In contrast if False (default) the XML generated may look like: 

<BGM type="Segment">
<BGM01 type="Composite" desc="DOCUMENT/MESSAGE NAME">
<BGM0101 desc="Document/message name, coded">380</BGM0101>
<BGM0102 desc="Code list qualifier"></BGM0102>
<BGM0103 desc="Code list responsible agency, coded"></BGM0103>
<BGM0104 desc="Document/message name">TAX INVOICE</BGM0104>
</BGM01>
The default value is False. This setting is only applicable when using ArcESB JSON schemas.

add_renaming_rule Method

This method adds a renaming rule to define how an EDI element is renamed when translating to XML.

Syntax

def add_renaming_rule(rule: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method adds a renaming rule. The rule defining how EDI elements are renamed when translating to XML. Renaming rules are optional.

The renaming rule defines how EDI elements are renamed when translating to XML or JSON. The format is: 

ediname:xmlanme
For instance: "UNH1:MsgRefNumber".

Note: Renaming rules are not required when converting from XML or JSON to EDI.

config Method

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

def config(configuration_string: str) -> str: ...

Remarks

config is a generic method available in every class. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the class.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

display_schema_info Method

Returns a string showing the structure of the schema defining the document.

Syntax

def display_schema_info() -> str: ...

Remarks

After calling load_schema this may be called to obtain information about the structure of the schema defining the document. If the desired xpath is not known this helps determine the structure so that the correct xpath can be built.

Note: A valid schema must be loaded via load_schema.

For instance: Console.WriteLine(component.DisplaySchemaInfo()); Will output text like: 

  ST[0,1]
  BIG[0,1]
  NTE[0,100]
  CUR[0,1]
  REF[0,12]
  YNQ[0,10]
  PER[0,3]
  N1Loop1[0,200]
    N1[0,1]
    N2[0,2]
    N3[0,2]
    N4[0,1]
    REF_2[0,12]
    PER_2[0,3]
    DMG[0,1]
  ITD[0,999999]
  DTM[0,10]
  FOB[0,1]
  PID[0,200]
  MEA[0,40]
  PWK[0,25]
  PKG[0,25]
  L7[0,1]
  BAL[0,999999]
  INC[0,1]
  PAM[0,999999]
  LMLoop1[0,10]
    LM[0,1]
    LQ[0,100]
  N9Loop1[0,1]
    N9[0,1]
    MSG[0,10]
  V1Loop1[0,999999]
    V1[0,1]
    R4[0,999999]
    DTM_2[0,999999]
  FA1Loop1[0,999999]
    FA1[0,1]
    FA2[0,999999]
  IT1Loop1[0,200000]
    IT1[0,1]
    CRC[0,1]
    QTY[0,5]
    CUR_2[0,1]
    IT3[0,5]
    TXI[0,10]
    CTP[0,25]
    PAM_2[0,10]
    MEA_2[0,40]
    PIDLoop1[0,1000]
      PID_2[0,1]
      MEA_3[0,10]
    PWK_2[0,25]
    PKG_2[0,25]
    PO4[0,1]
    ITD_2[0,2]
    REF_3[0,999999]
    YNQ_2[0,10]
    PER_3[0,5]
    SDQ[0,500]
    DTM_3[0,10]
    CAD[0,999999]
    L7_2[0,999999]
    SR[0,1]
    SACLoop1[0,25]
      SAC[0,1]
      TXI_2[0,10]
    SLNLoop1[0,1000]
      SLN[0,1]
      DTM_4[0,1]
      REF_4[0,999999]
      PID_3[0,1000]
      SAC_2[0,25]
      TC2[0,2]
      TXI_3[0,10]
    N1Loop2[0,200]
      N1_2[0,1]
      N2_2[0,2]
      N3_2[0,2]
      N4_2[0,1]
      REF_5[0,12]
      PER_4[0,3]
      DMG_2[0,1]
    LMLoop2[0,10]
      LM_2[0,1]
      LQ_2[0,100]
    V1Loop2[0,999999]
      V1_2[0,1]
      R4_2[0,999999]
      DTM_5[0,999999]
    FA1Loop2[0,999999]
      FA1_2[0,1]
      FA2_2[0,999999]
  TDS[0,1]
  TXI_4[0,10]
  CAD_2[0,1]
  AMT[0,999999]
  SACLoop2[0,25]
    SAC_3[0,1]
    TXI_5[0,10]
  ISSLoop1[0,999999]
    ISS[0,1]
    PID_4[0,1]
  CTT[0,1]
  SE[0,1]

export_xml_schema Method

Exports a XML schema.

Syntax

def export_xml_schema(schema_file: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method exports a XML schema describing the valid format of the XML document.

After translating a document from EDI to XML, this method may be called to export a schema (.xsd) describing the structure of a valid XML documents. XML documents which adhere to this document may be translated from XML to EDI.

This method is helpful if XML will be generated outside of the class and later converted to EDI by the class.

The SchemaFile parameter specifies the absolute or relative path to the file on disk.

generate_ack Method

Generates an EDI acknowledgement.

Syntax

def generate_ack() -> str: ...

Remarks

This functionality is not yet implemented and is reserved for future use.

load_renaming_rules Method

Loads a set of renaming rules from file.

Syntax

def load_renaming_rules(rule_file: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method loads a set of renaming rules from a file on disk. The renaming_rule_count will reflect the number of rules that were loaded. When loading a rule file all previously loaded rules will be replaced.

The RuleFile parameter specifies the absolute or relative path to the file on disk.

load_schema Method

Loads a schema file describing a Transaction Set.

Syntax

def load_schema(file_name: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method parses the File and loads it into an internal schema list. The class will attempt to automatically detect the schema_format.

If the schema file does not exist or cannot be parsed as an EDI schema, the class fails with an error.

reset Method

Resets the state of the control.

Syntax

def reset() -> None: ...

Remarks

Reset resets the state of the class. All properties will be set to their default values.

save_renaming_rules Method

Saves the current renaming rule set to a file.

Syntax

def save_renaming_rules(rule_file: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method saves the current renaming rule set specified by renaming_rule, renaming_rule_index, and renaming_rule_count to a file on disk. These rules may be reloaded at a later time by calling load_renaming_rules.

The RuleFile parameter specifies the absolute or relative path to the file on disk.

translate Method

Translates the specified data.

Syntax

def translate() -> None: ...

Remarks

This method translates the specified data.

The class will convert a document from the format specified by input_format to the format specified by output_format. In practice this allows for converting to XML or JSON from EDI and vice versa.

Before translating from EDI to XML or JSON it is recommended to load a schema using the load_schema method. This ensures additional information can be included in the XML or JSON document. If a schema is specified the XML or JSON will include types and descriptions as element attributes which are useful for interpreting the data.

EDI elements may optionally be renamed when creating XML. To define how an element is renamed add a renaming rule by calling add_renaming_rule.

After calling translate the resulting output will contain the EDI, XML or JSON data as defined by output_format. If the output data is XML the export_xml_schema method may be called to export a schema (.xsd) defining the structure of a valid XML document. XML documents which adhere to this document may be translated from XML to EDI.

Input and Output Properties

The class will determine the source and destination of the input and output based on which properties are set.

The order in which the input properties are checked is as follows:

When a valid source is found the search stops. The order in which the output properties are checked is as follows:

on_end_functional_group Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of an interchange.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorEndFunctionalGroupEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def count() -> int: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_end_functional_group() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorEndFunctionalGroupEventParams], None]: ...
@on_end_functional_group.setter
def on_end_functional_group(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorEndFunctionalGroupEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_end_functional_group event will fire when a control segment marking the end of a functional group is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as GE. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment, and links this event with the corresponding on_start_functional_group event. Count contains the value of the count element included in the closing segment, which identifies the number of transactions in a functional group.

on_end_interchange Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of an interchange.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorEndInterchangeEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_end_interchange() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorEndInterchangeEventParams], None]: ...
@on_end_interchange.setter
def on_end_interchange(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorEndInterchangeEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_end_interchange event will fire when a control segment marking the end of an interchange is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as IEA. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment, and links this event with the corresponding on_start_interchange event.

on_end_loop Event

Fires when the end of a loop is detected in a transaction set.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorEndLoopEventParams(object):
# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_end_loop() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorEndLoopEventParams], None]: ...
@on_end_loop.setter
def on_end_loop(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorEndLoopEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_end_loop event will fire after the last segment in a loop is read. Each on_end_loop event is paired with one on_start_loop event.

on_end_transaction Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the end of a transaction.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorEndTransactionEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def count() -> int: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_end_transaction() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorEndTransactionEventParams], None]: ...
@on_end_transaction.setter
def on_end_transaction(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorEndTransactionEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_end_transaction event will fire when a control segment marking the end of a transaction is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as SE. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment, and links this event with the corresponding on_start_transaction event. Count contains the value of the count element included in the closing segment, which identifies the number of segments in a transaction set.

on_error Event

Fired when information is available about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorErrorEventParams(object):
  @property
  def error_code() -> int: ...

  @property
  def description() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_error() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorErrorEventParams], None]: ...
@on_error.setter
def on_error(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorErrorEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing. Normally the class fails with an error.

The ErrorCode parameter contains an error code, and the Description parameter contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

on_resolve_schema Event

Fires whenever a new transaction set is encountered and no schema is found for it.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorResolveSchemaEventParams(object):
  @property
  def transaction_code() -> str: ...

  @property
  def standard_version() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_resolve_schema() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorResolveSchemaEventParams], None]: ...
@on_resolve_schema.setter
def on_resolve_schema(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorResolveSchemaEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_resolve_schema event will fire when a the class encounters the header segment of a new transaction set, but it finds no schema corresponding to it already loaded.

TransactionCode contains the code of the transaction, such as "810" or "APERAK".

StandardVersion contains the version of the transaction, such as "004010" or "D95A".

When processing this event, the caller can use load_schema() to load a new schema into the class that can be used to parse the transaction.

After the event fires, if the class still doesn't have a matching schema, then it will attempt schema-less parsing of the transaction set.

on_segment Event

Fires whenever a data segment in a transaction set is read.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorSegmentEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def name() -> str: ...

  @property
  def loop_name() -> str: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_segment() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorSegmentEventParams], None]: ...
@on_segment.setter
def on_segment(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorSegmentEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_segment event will fire when a data segment is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment. Name contains the name of the segment as defined in the associated transaction set schema. LoopName contains the name of the loop or group this segment is present in (such as N1Loop1).

on_start_functional_group Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of a functional group.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorStartFunctionalGroupEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_start_functional_group() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorStartFunctionalGroupEventParams], None]: ...
@on_start_functional_group.setter
def on_start_functional_group(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorStartFunctionalGroupEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_start_functional_group event will fire when a control segment marking the start of a functional group structure is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as GS. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment.

on_start_interchange Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of an interchange.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorStartInterchangeEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_start_interchange() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorStartInterchangeEventParams], None]: ...
@on_start_interchange.setter
def on_start_interchange(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorStartInterchangeEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_start_interchange event will fire when a control segment marking the start of an interchange structure is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as ISA. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment.

on_start_loop Event

Fires when the starting of a loop is detected in a transaction set.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorStartLoopEventParams(object):
  @property
  def name() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_start_loop() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorStartLoopEventParams], None]: ...
@on_start_loop.setter
def on_start_loop(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorStartLoopEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_start_loop event will fire when the tag of a loop trigger segment is read. The Name parameter contains the schema-provided name of the loop, such as "N1Loop1".

on_start_transaction Event

Fires whenever a control segment is read that marks the start of a transaction.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorStartTransactionEventParams(object):
  @property
  def tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def control_number() -> str: ...

  @property
  def code() -> str: ...

  @property
  def full_segment() -> str: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_start_transaction() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorStartTransactionEventParams], None]: ...
@on_start_transaction.setter
def on_start_transaction(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorStartTransactionEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_start_transaction event will fire when a control segment marking the start of a transaction is read. The Tag parameter contains the tag of the segment, such as ST. ControlNumber contains the control number associated with the segment. Code contains the transaction code (such as 810).

on_warning Event

Fires whenever a validation warning is encountered.

Syntax

class VDATranslatorWarningEventParams(object):
  @property
  def warn_code() -> int: ...

  @property
  def message() -> str: ...

  @property
  def segment_number() -> int: ...

  @property
  def segment_tag() -> str: ...

  @property
  def technical_error_code() -> str: ...

  @property
  def segment_error_code() -> str: ...

  @property
  def element_error_code() -> str: ...

  @property
  def element_position() -> int: ...

# In class VDATranslator:
@property
def on_warning() -> Callable[[VDATranslatorWarningEventParams], None]: ...
@on_warning.setter
def on_warning(event_hook: Callable[[VDATranslatorWarningEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_warning event will fire during parsing of a segment of an EDI document. The WarnCode parameter contains the type of warning encountered. Message is a textual description of the problem. SegmentNumber is the index of the segment where the problem was found.

SegmentTag holds the tag name of the segment. SegmentErrorCode holds the error code that may be used in the IK304 field of a 999. ElementErrorCode holds the error code that may be used in the IK403 field of a 999. ElementPosition is the position of the element where the error occurred.

It's very important to note that segment validation happens right in the middle of the parsing process. Because of this, the on_warning event will usually fire long before the validated segment becomes the current segment for the parser state. This means you cannot access the parser properties to examine the current segment in relation with the on_warning event when the event fires.

Possible WarnCode values are:

0 The component is not required but is present.
1 Invalid segment count.
2 Invalid transaction count.
3 Invalid group count.
4 Invalid interchange control number.
5 Invalid group control number.
6 Invalid transaction control number.
10 A required data element is missing.
11 Invalid field length.
12 Invalid field value.
13 A required component is missing.
14 The data element is not defined but is present.
30 Required segment is missing.
31 Required loop is missing.
32 Occurrences exceeds the schema defined limit.
33 Occurrences is less than the schema defined minimum.
40 Paired rule validation failed, the pair of elements must be present.
41 At least one of element is required, see message for list of elements.
42 Exclusion validation failed, only one of the elements can be present.
43 Conditional rule validation failed.
44 List conditional rule validation failed.
45 First then none validation failed. The presence of an element requires that other specific elements must not be present.
46 Only one or none of the elements can be present.

TechnicalErrorCode holds a technical error code that helps identify structural issues with the document. For instance when parsing an X12 document this will hold values that may be used for TA1 error codes. When parsing X12 documents the following codes are applicable:

001The Interchange Control Numbers in the header ISA 13 and trailer IEA02 do not match.
014Invalid interchange date value (non-numeric characters or wrong length).
015Invalid interchange time value (non-numeric characters or wrong length).
022The ISA segment is missing elements (invalid control structure).
024Invalid interchange content (e.g., Invalid GS segment).

VDATranslator Config Settings

The class accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the config method.

VDATranslator Config Settings

ComponentDelimiter:   The delimiter character to use to separate components.

When set, this changes the default delimiter to use to separate components within a data element. The default value depends on the EDI specification being used. This should be set after setting edi_standard. Setting edi_standard resets the default delimiter value.

CrossFieldValidationEnabled:   Enables cross-field validation rules.

If true, cross-field validation rules present in the document schema will be checked. The default value is false. Note, Bots Schema Files do not support syntax rules, therefore CrossFieldValidation rules will never execute for these schemas.

ElementDelimiter:   The delimiter character to use to separate data elements.

When set, this changes the default delimiter to use to separate data elements within a segment. The default value depends on the EDI specification being used.

Encoding:   The character encoding to be applied when reading and writing data.

If the data contains non-ASCII characters this setting should be specified so characters are properly preserved. This value should be set to a valid character set such as "UTF-8" or "ISO-8859-1".

IncludeEmptyElements:   Whether to include empty data elements in a composite element.

When translating to EDIFACT or X12 this setting specifies whether empty data elements of a composite element will be included. For instance when set to True (default) a segment may look like: 

PYT+8+COLLECT:::+25'
When set to False empty data elements are not include and a segment may look like: 
PYT+8+COLLECT+25'
IncludeFooters:   Whether to include footer information in the XML.

This setting specifies whether footer information is included in the translated XML. For EDIFACT this includes UNT, UNE, and UNZ. For X12 this include GE, SE, and IEA. The default value is True.

JSONElementPrefix:   An optional prefix for reserved names when translating to JSON.

This setting optionally specifies a prefix to prepend to the meta, type, desc, and value JSON elements when translating to JSON. This may be set to any ASCII character if desired. For instance:

//use the '@' character translator.Config("JSONElementPrefix=@"); Will result in JSON like: 

{
	"@meta": {
		"@type": "Interchange",
		"ISA01": {
			"@desc": "Authorization Information Qualifier",
			"@value": "00"
		},

The default value is empty string and no prefix is used.

LastIXControlNumber:   The control number of the most recently parsed interchange.

This setting may be queried from within events. For instance from within the on_warning event it may be desirable to know which interchange control number the warning applies to; in that case querying this setting from within on_warning will return the expected value.

LastTransactionControlNumber:   The control number of the most recently parsed transaction.

This setting may be queried from within events. For instance from within the on_warning event it may be desirable to know which transaction control number the warning applies to; in that case querying this setting from within on_warning will return the expected value.

ReleaseChar:   The character to use to escape delimiters within values.

When set, this changes the default escape character. The default value depends on the EDI specification being used.

RenamingRulesData:   The renaming rules data.

This setting may be used to get or set renaming rules without using a file on disk. When calling save_renaming_rules or load_renaming_rules set the RuleFile parameter of the method to empty string to use the value in this setting instead of a file on disk. For instance: //Save Renaming Rules editranslator.SaveRenamingRules(""); string ruleData = editranslator.Config("RenamingRulesData");

//Load Renaming Rules editranslator.Config("RenamingRulesData=" + ruleData); editranslator.LoadRenamingRules("");

RepetitionChar:   The repetition character.

When set, this changes the default repetition character. The default value depends on the EDI specification being used.

SegmentDelimiter:   The delimiter character to use to separate segments.

When set, this changes the default delimiter to use to separate segments within an EDI document. The default value depends on the EDI specification being used.

StrictSchemaValidation:   Specifies the behavior during schema validation.

This setting specifies what happens when performing schema validation and a validation warning occurs. By default this value is set to 1 (Warn) and the on_warning event will fire, but processing will not stop. See the WarnCode parameter list in the on_warning event for details about possible validation warnings. Possible values for this setting are:

0 (Ignore) All validation warnings will be ignored. on_warning will not fire with warnings.
1 (Warn - default) The on_warning event will fire with all validation warnings.
2 (Error) All validation warnings are treated as errors and will cause an exception. Processing will stop immediately.
UseXMLComments:   Whether the human readable description is stored as an attribute or XML comments.

When translating to XML the human readable description of the element will be included in the output. This setting specifies whether the description is present as an attribute of the XML element, or preceding the XML element as a XML comment. For instance:

UseXMLComments is True or 1: 

<!--Entity Identifier Code-->
<N101><!--Ship To-->ST</N101>

UseXMLComments is False or 0 (default): 

<N101 desc="Entity Identifier Code">ST</N101>

The special value 2 tells the class to omit all comments. For instance:

UseXMLComments is 2: 

<N101>ST</N101>
This setting is False (0) by default.

Base Config Settings

BuildInfo:   Information about the product's build.

When queried, this setting will return a string containing information about the product's build.

CodePage:   The system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations.

The default code page is Unicode UTF-8 (65001).

The following is a list of valid code page identifiers:

IdentifierName
037IBM EBCDIC - U.S./Canada
437OEM - United States
500IBM EBCDIC - International
708Arabic - ASMO 708
709Arabic - ASMO 449+, BCON V4
710Arabic - Transparent Arabic
720Arabic - Transparent ASMO
737OEM - Greek (formerly 437G)
775OEM - Baltic
850OEM - Multilingual Latin I
852OEM - Latin II
855OEM - Cyrillic (primarily Russian)
857OEM - Turkish
858OEM - Multilingual Latin I + Euro symbol
860OEM - Portuguese
861OEM - Icelandic
862OEM - Hebrew
863OEM - Canadian-French
864OEM - Arabic
865OEM - Nordic
866OEM - Russian
869OEM - Modern Greek
870IBM EBCDIC - Multilingual/ROECE (Latin-2)
874ANSI/OEM - Thai (same as 28605, ISO 8859-15)
875IBM EBCDIC - Modern Greek
932ANSI/OEM - Japanese, Shift-JIS
936ANSI/OEM - Simplified Chinese (PRC, Singapore)
949ANSI/OEM - Korean (Unified Hangul Code)
950ANSI/OEM - Traditional Chinese (Taiwan; Hong Kong SAR, PRC)
1026IBM EBCDIC - Turkish (Latin-5)
1047IBM EBCDIC - Latin 1/Open System
1140IBM EBCDIC - U.S./Canada (037 + Euro symbol)
1141IBM EBCDIC - Germany (20273 + Euro symbol)
1142IBM EBCDIC - Denmark/Norway (20277 + Euro symbol)
1143IBM EBCDIC - Finland/Sweden (20278 + Euro symbol)
1144IBM EBCDIC - Italy (20280 + Euro symbol)
1145IBM EBCDIC - Latin America/Spain (20284 + Euro symbol)
1146IBM EBCDIC - United Kingdom (20285 + Euro symbol)
1147IBM EBCDIC - France (20297 + Euro symbol)
1148IBM EBCDIC - International (500 + Euro symbol)
1149IBM EBCDIC - Icelandic (20871 + Euro symbol)
1200Unicode UCS-2 Little-Endian (BMP of ISO 10646)
1201Unicode UCS-2 Big-Endian
1250ANSI - Central European
1251ANSI - Cyrillic
1252ANSI - Latin I
1253ANSI - Greek
1254ANSI - Turkish
1255ANSI - Hebrew
1256ANSI - Arabic
1257ANSI - Baltic
1258ANSI/OEM - Vietnamese
1361Korean (Johab)
10000MAC - Roman
10001MAC - Japanese
10002MAC - Traditional Chinese (Big5)
10003MAC - Korean
10004MAC - Arabic
10005MAC - Hebrew
10006MAC - Greek I
10007MAC - Cyrillic
10008MAC - Simplified Chinese (GB 2312)
10010MAC - Romania
10017MAC - Ukraine
10021MAC - Thai
10029MAC - Latin II
10079MAC - Icelandic
10081MAC - Turkish
10082MAC - Croatia
12000Unicode UCS-4 Little-Endian
12001Unicode UCS-4 Big-Endian
20000CNS - Taiwan
20001TCA - Taiwan
20002Eten - Taiwan
20003IBM5550 - Taiwan
20004TeleText - Taiwan
20005Wang - Taiwan
20105IA5 IRV International Alphabet No. 5 (7-bit)
20106IA5 German (7-bit)
20107IA5 Swedish (7-bit)
20108IA5 Norwegian (7-bit)
20127US-ASCII (7-bit)
20261T.61
20269ISO 6937 Non-Spacing Accent
20273IBM EBCDIC - Germany
20277IBM EBCDIC - Denmark/Norway
20278IBM EBCDIC - Finland/Sweden
20280IBM EBCDIC - Italy
20284IBM EBCDIC - Latin America/Spain
20285IBM EBCDIC - United Kingdom
20290IBM EBCDIC - Japanese Katakana Extended
20297IBM EBCDIC - France
20420IBM EBCDIC - Arabic
20423IBM EBCDIC - Greek
20424IBM EBCDIC - Hebrew
20833IBM EBCDIC - Korean Extended
20838IBM EBCDIC - Thai
20866Russian - KOI8-R
20871IBM EBCDIC - Icelandic
20880IBM EBCDIC - Cyrillic (Russian)
20905IBM EBCDIC - Turkish
20924IBM EBCDIC - Latin-1/Open System (1047 + Euro symbol)
20932JIS X 0208-1990 & 0121-1990
20936Simplified Chinese (GB2312)
21025IBM EBCDIC - Cyrillic (Serbian, Bulgarian)
21027Extended Alpha Lowercase
21866Ukrainian (KOI8-U)
28591ISO 8859-1 Latin I
28592ISO 8859-2 Central Europe
28593ISO 8859-3 Latin 3
28594ISO 8859-4 Baltic
28595ISO 8859-5 Cyrillic
28596ISO 8859-6 Arabic
28597ISO 8859-7 Greek
28598ISO 8859-8 Hebrew
28599ISO 8859-9 Latin 5
28605ISO 8859-15 Latin 9
29001Europa 3
38598ISO 8859-8 Hebrew
50220ISO 2022 Japanese with no halfwidth Katakana
50221ISO 2022 Japanese with halfwidth Katakana
50222ISO 2022 Japanese JIS X 0201-1989
50225ISO 2022 Korean
50227ISO 2022 Simplified Chinese
50229ISO 2022 Traditional Chinese
50930Japanese (Katakana) Extended
50931US/Canada and Japanese
50933Korean Extended and Korean
50935Simplified Chinese Extended and Simplified Chinese
50936Simplified Chinese
50937US/Canada and Traditional Chinese
50939Japanese (Latin) Extended and Japanese
51932EUC - Japanese
51936EUC - Simplified Chinese
51949EUC - Korean
51950EUC - Traditional Chinese
52936HZ-GB2312 Simplified Chinese
54936Windows XP: GB18030 Simplified Chinese (4 Byte)
57002ISCII Devanagari
57003ISCII Bengali
57004ISCII Tamil
57005ISCII Telugu
57006ISCII Assamese
57007ISCII Oriya
57008ISCII Kannada
57009ISCII Malayalam
57010ISCII Gujarati
57011ISCII Punjabi
65000Unicode UTF-7
65001Unicode UTF-8
The following is a list of valid code page identifiers for Mac OS only:
IdentifierName
1ASCII
2NEXTSTEP
3JapaneseEUC
4UTF8
5ISOLatin1
6Symbol
7NonLossyASCII
8ShiftJIS
9ISOLatin2
10Unicode
11WindowsCP1251
12WindowsCP1252
13WindowsCP1253
14WindowsCP1254
15WindowsCP1250
21ISO2022JP
30MacOSRoman
10UTF16String
0x90000100UTF16BigEndian
0x94000100UTF16LittleEndian
0x8c000100UTF32String
0x98000100UTF32BigEndian
0x9c000100UTF32LittleEndian
65536Proprietary

LicenseInfo:   Information about the current license.

When queried, this setting will return a string containing information about the license this instance of a class is using. It will return the following information:

  • Product: The product the license is for.
  • Product Key: The key the license was generated from.
  • License Source: Where the license was found (e.g., RuntimeLicense, License File).
  • License Type: The type of license installed (e.g., Royalty Free, Single Server).
  • Last Valid Build: The last valid build number for which the license will work.
MaskSensitive:   Whether sensitive data is masked in log messages.

In certain circumstances it may be beneficial to mask sensitive data, like passwords, in log messages. Set this to True to mask sensitive data. The default is True.

This setting only works on these classes: AS3Receiver, AS3Sender, Atom, Client(3DS), FTP, FTPServer, IMAP, OFTPClient, SSHClient, SCP, Server(3DS), Sexec, SFTP, SFTPServer, SSHServer, TCPClient, TCPServer.

ProcessIdleEvents:   Whether the class uses its internal event loop to process events when the main thread is idle.

If set to False, the class will not fire internal idle events. Set this to False to use the class in a background thread on Mac OS. By default, this setting is True.

SelectWaitMillis:   The length of time in milliseconds the class will wait when DoEvents is called if there are no events to process.

If there are no events to process when do_events is called, the class will wait for the amount of time specified here before returning. The default value is 20.

UseFIPSCompliantAPI:   Tells the class whether or not to use FIPS certified APIs.

When set to True, the class will utilize the underlying operating system's certified APIs. Java editions, regardless of OS, utilize Bouncy Castle FIPS, while all the other Windows editions make use of Microsoft security libraries.

FIPS mode can be enabled by setting the UseFIPSCompliantAPI configuration setting to True. This is a static setting which applies to all instances of all classes of the toolkit within the process. It is recommended to enable or disable this setting once before the component has been used to establish a connection. Enabling FIPS while an instance of the component is active and connected may result in unexpected behavior.

For more details please see the FIPS 140-2 Compliance article.

Note: This setting is only applicable on Windows.

Note: Enabling FIPS-compliance requires a special license; please contact sales@nsoftware.com for details.

UseInternalSecurityAPI:   Whether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation.

When set to False, the class will use the system security libraries by default to perform cryptographic functions where applicable.

Setting this configuration setting to True tells the class to use the internal implementation instead of using the system security libraries.

On Windows, this setting is set to False by default. On Linux/macOS, this setting is set to True by default.

To use the system security libraries for Linux, OpenSSL support must be enabled. For more information on how to enable OpenSSL, please refer to the OpenSSL Notes section.

VDATranslator Errors

VDATranslator Errors

304   The file exists and Overwrite is set to False.
1000   Input/Output error
1001   No stream or file name were specified for the component
1002   Unexpected end of file (EOF).
1003   Segment not found.
1004   Segment not found in schema.
1005   Schema not found.
1010   Invalid Writer state.
1011   Segment does not have the specified element or component.
1012   Invalid XPath.
1013   DOM tree unavailable (set BuildDOM and reparse).
1014   Document contains incomplete segments.
1015   Document contains an open EDI structure (interchange, functional group or transaction) with no matching footer segment.
1044   Error while reading schema file.
1100   Component is busy.
1099   Unexpected error.
1000   Input/Output error
1001   No stream or file name were specified for the component
1002   Unexpected end of file (EOF).
1003   Segment not found.
1004   Segment not found in schema.
1005   Schema not found.
1010   Invalid Writer state.
1011   Segment does not have the specified element or component.
1044   Error while reading schema file.
1099   Unexpected error.