Binary Segments

Certain EDI standards use binary segments. Sterling Gentran:Server® enables you to create and configure map components to process binary data.

When you load an EDI standard that contains binary segments from the Standards DVD supplied with Sterling Gentran:Server, your system automatically creates the required elements. However, you sometimes may need to manually create binary segments.

For example, when you load the ANSI X12 275 transaction set into the Output side of a map, you will notice that it contains a binary data segment with two elements—one for the length of the binary data and one for binary data. The default data type for the length element is "Number" and the maximum length is set to "15." The default data type for the binary data element is "String" and the default length is "760."

To handle binary data received for an inbound EDI segment, you must create or configure regular segments and elements on the Input side of your map.

To generate an EDI segment containing binary data, you must create a binary data segment on the Output side of your map. Then, you must create two elements in the binary segment for these data types:

• Bin_Len, which is for the length (in characters) of the binary segment
• Bin_Data, which is for the binary data