|
[EDI-L Mailing List Archive Home]
[Message List]
[Reply To This Message]
Re: Need Help in Obtaining Mapping Skills
> Clearly, despite the discussion of the last week or so, we're more on
> the same page than not. I thoroughly agree with you that XML, in and of
> itself, does not solve the mapping question. Intelligent design of XML
> messages will answer some of the problem but the proliferation of XML
> vocabularies and "standards" will keep "mappers" in business for a long
> time.
>
IMHO, "mapping" is the biggest strength that XML has over X12 in the EDI
world. It's much easier to create an XML-to-XML map with a Stylesheet than
it is to generate an X12 map with the many different, proprietary mapping
tools on the market. Part of the disadvantage of the "arcane" X12 dialect
will also be _finding_ mappers. XSLT Mappers are very easy to come across.
Mercator mappers aren't.
Not to say XML is better than X12, since as has been noted the biggest
disadvantage to XML is size. If you don't know what you're doing, then
you'll quickly find a cap to the size of document you can handle (roughly
20mb XML file size, as MS Biztalk "officially" supports). Not saying you
can't work with 100mb+ XML documents, it's just you really need to know what
you're doing.
Both dialects have their strengths and weaknesses. I tend to recommend XML
to the smaller businesses, since A) they will have smaller data to deal with
and B) won't have the budget to hire an employee who does nothing but
mapping.
Bryce K. Nielsen
SysOnyx, Inc. (www.sysonyx.com)
Makers of xmlLinguist, the EDI-to-XML Translator
http://www.sysonyx.com/products/xmllinguist
|
 |
Subscribe in XML format
| RSS 2.0 |
|
| Atom 0.3 |
|
|
Cart
