EDI File Format Window
This illustration shows the EDI File Format Window.
This table describes the parts of the EDI File Format window and their functions.
| Icon | Description |
|---|---|
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A group is a looping structure that contains related
segments and/or groups that repeat in sequence until either the group
data ends or the maximum number of times that the loop is allowed
to repeat is exhausted. Groups are defined by the EDI standards. A group that is subordinate to another group is a subgroup (this corresponds to a nested looping structure – a loop within a loop). |
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A segment contains a group of related elements or composite data elements that combine to communicate useful data. Segments are defined by the EDI standards. A segment can occur once or can repeat multiple times. |
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A composite is a data element that contains two
or more component data elements or subelements. Composites are defined
by the EDI standards that use them (EDIFACT, TRADACOMS, and certain
ANSI X12 standards). A repeating composite is a related group of EDI subelements that have the ability to loop as a whole (occur more than once) within a particular EDI segment. To allow a composite to repeat multiple times within a segment, each occurrence of the composite must be separated by a special delimiter, known as the repeating element delimiter. For example: Your delimiters are set as follows:
Then, if a BGM segment contains a repeating composite that occurs 3 times within the data followed by 1 regular element, and the composite contains 2 subelements, the segment is in the following form: |
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An element is the smallest piece of information
defined by the EDI standards. An individual element can have different
meanings depending on the context. Therefore, elements are normally
not considered to have useful meaning until they are combined into
segments. An element is the EDI map component that is mapped (linked) to a corresponding application field to move data to and from the EDI file. A repeating element is an EDI elements with the ability to loop (occur more than once) within a particular EDI segment. To allow a single element to repeat multiple times within a segment, each element must be separated by a special delimiter, known as the repeating element delimiter. The use of this delimiter prevents the system from mistaking the repeating elements for normal elements. For example: Your delimiters are set as follows:
Then, if a BGM segment contains 3 elements and the second element is a repeating element that occurs 4 times, the segment is in the following form: |