Message Sets: TDS properties for compound element dateTime types

Field identification, physical representation, and null values.

The TDS properties described here apply to:

Objects: Compound elements

Field identification

Property	Type	Meaning
Tag	String	Specify the value that is used to identify the object in a message bit stream. If the object is simple and the Data Element Separation property of the complex type or types in which the object is a child is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, this property must contain a non-empty value. If the object is a complex element, and the Data Element Separation property of its parent is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, the property can contain an empty value. The value for this property must be unique for every element in the message set; that is, no two elements in the message set can contain the same value for this property.
Data Pattern	String	Specify the regular expression that the parser uses to identify the data in the message to assign to the object. This property is used when the Data Element Separation method is set to Use Data Pattern in the complex type. For more details, see Message Sets: Regular expression syntax.
Repeating Element Delimiter	String	Specify the delimiter to use between repeating elements. This delimiter is used only when the element repeats and the Data Element Separation property of the parent group or complex type is set to All Elements Delimited or Variable Length Elements Delimited. A default value is provided if the previous conditions are true; if the messaging standard is HL7, the mnemonic <HL7_RS> is used; if the messaging standard is not HL7, and the maximum number of repeats is fixed, the delimiter of the parent group or complex type is used. If none of the previous conditions are true, a default is not applied.

Property

Type

Meaning

Tag

String

Specify the value that is used to identify the object in a message bit stream.

If the object is simple and the Data Element Separation property of the complex type or types in which the object is a child is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, this property must contain a non-empty value.

If the object is a complex element, and the Data Element Separation property of its parent is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, the property can contain an empty value.

The value for this property must be unique for every element in the message set; that is, no two elements in the message set can contain the same value for this property.

Data Pattern

String

Specify the regular expression that the parser uses to identify the data in the message to assign to the object. This property is used when the Data Element Separation method is set to Use Data Pattern in the complex type. For more details, see Message Sets: Regular expression syntax.

Repeating Element Delimiter

String

Specify the delimiter to use between repeating elements.

This delimiter is used only when the element repeats and the Data Element Separation property of the parent group or complex type is set to All Elements Delimited or Variable Length Elements Delimited.

A default value is provided if the previous conditions are true; if the messaging standard is HL7, the mnemonic <HL7_RS> is used; if the messaging standard is not HL7, and the maximum number of repeats is fixed, the delimiter of the parent group or complex type is used.

If none of the previous conditions are true, a default is not applied.

Physical representation

Property	Type	Meaning
Physical Type	Enumerated type	Select the physical type of the object. If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values: Text. The data is in character format. Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units. Length Encoded String 2. The first two bytes of the data contain the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units. Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, `X'00'`. Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL. Binary. The data is in bit string format. Time Seconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java™ Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data. Time Milliseconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data. The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property. For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.
Length	Integer	Specify the expected length of the object in length units. A non-zero length must be specified if no Length Reference is specified.
Justification	Enumerated type	Specify the justification of the object if the data being written or parsed is less than the fixed-length value. This property is used only when a value is written as a fixed-length string. Select one of the following values from the list: Not Applicable Left Justify Right Justify
Padding Character	String	Specify the padding character to be inserted or interpreted on the writing or parsing of a fixed-length object, if the data is less than the fixed-length value. This property is used only when a value is written as a fixed-length string. Set this character in one of the following ways: Select NUL, '0', or SPACE from the drop-down list. Enter a character between quotation marks, for example "c" or 'c', where c is any alphanumeric character. Enter a hexadecimal character code in the form `0xYY`, where `YY` is a hexadecimal value. Enter a Unicode value in the form `U+xxxx`, where `xxxx` is a Unicode value specified in hexadecimal. The maximum length of the string that you can enter is 10. The choice of which of these padding character forms is used for an MRM element depends on the padding character required and whether the padding character is subject to data conversion. In most cases, the specification of a padding character is sufficient, and when this padding character is used, it is converted to the target code page of the output MRM message that is generated. If a padding character is required that cannot easily be entered in the padding character field, the Unicode mnemonic format can be used to specify the required character. When used, this Unicode value is also converted to the target code page of the MRM message that is generated. If a padding character is required that is not subject to data conversion, the hexadecimal format can be used. This gives the option of specifying a padding character that is inserted directly into the output message. If this format is used, you must ensure that the hexadecimal value is valid for the code page of any output messages that are created using these MRM definitions. If you convert a message from one code page to another, you must ensure that the converted value of the padding character is valid for this code page. For example, when converting from ASCII to code page 500, if you have specified the numeric 8 as your padding character, it is converted from 0x08 to 0x15; the ASCII and EBCDIC representations of Backspace. There is a currently a restriction that the value of your padding character must not be greater than U+007F. If you enter a Unicode mnemonic or numeric value, it is considered to be the character that is represented by that number in UTF-8.
DateTime Format	String	Specify a template for date and time. The default DateTime format is dependent on the logical type of the object. For information about the defaults for the dateTime format according to the logical type, see Message Sets: DateTime defaults by logical type. See Message Sets: DateTime formats for details of date and time formats.
Length Reference	Enumerated type	This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text, Binary, or TLOG Specific. If set, this property takes precedence over any value in the Length Units property. Specify the identifier of a sibling integer object, the value of which determines the length of the object in question. The sibling object must be defined before the current object within the message structure. For information about reordering elements, see Message Sets: Reordering objects.

Representation of null values

Property	Type	Meaning
Encoding Null	Enumerated type	Select one of the following options from the list: NULLPadFill. This option is valid only for fixed-length objects and is the default value. NULLLogicalValue. The Encoding Null Value property is first converted to an actual value, and rendered in the way specified for the field. NULLLiteralValue. This option specifies that Encoding Null Value contains a value that is directly substituted as if it is a string. For dateTime elements, use this option if you want to use the Encoding Null Value property to test or compare the content of the field in the message. NULLLiteralFill. This option specifies that the field is filled with the value specified by the Encoding Null Value property. Encoding Null Value must resolve to a single character. The option that you select determines the value that you must set for the property Encoding Null Value. For full information about using these options, see Message Sets: TDS Null handling options.
Encoding Null Value	String	The use of this property depends on the Encoding Null property. The default value is zero. If you set the Encoding Null property for a dateTime object to NULLLogicalValue, the value that you set must be in an ISO8601 dateTime format. These formats are described in Message Sets: DateTime as string data. For example, specify a value that conforms to the yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss format; for example, `1970-12-01`.

Property

Type

Meaning

Encoding Null

Enumerated type

Select one of the following options from the list:

NULLPadFill. This option is valid only for fixed-length objects and is the default value.
NULLLogicalValue. The Encoding Null Value property is first converted to an actual value, and rendered in the way specified for the field.
NULLLiteralValue. This option specifies that Encoding Null Value contains a value that is directly substituted as if it is a string. For dateTime elements, use this option if you want to use the Encoding Null Value property to test or compare the content of the field in the message.
NULLLiteralFill. This option specifies that the field is filled with the value specified by the Encoding Null Value property. Encoding Null Value must resolve to a single character.

The option that you select determines the value that you must set for the property Encoding Null Value.

For full information about using these options, see Message Sets: TDS Null handling options.

Encoding Null Value

String

The use of this property depends on the Encoding Null property. The default value is zero.

If you set the Encoding Null property for a dateTime object to NULLLogicalValue, the value that you set must be in an ISO8601 dateTime format.

These formats are described in Message Sets: DateTime as string data.

For example, specify a value that conforms to the yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss format; for example, 1970-12-01.