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Re: Amount fields to be empty if they are zero?
Quoted text is from < by Andrew BK
<
>But this supplier thinks that putting a value of 0 in the numeric
>element is against the X12 004010 standard.
>
>A value specified to be zero is not unknown.
>Am I missing something here?
I cannot answer your question authoritatively for X12, but you have
touched on what I regard as a persistent flaw in the EDIFACT standard.
The compression rules dictate that for variable length fields you should
compress away leading zeroes and trailing blanks, and that fields which
are all zero or blank should be suppressed.
This leads you into the situation where, for example, a Stock Level is a
mandatory field, but your actual level is zero. If you follow the
compression rules you suppress the data element and then, since it is
mandatory, the message promptly fails on a dependency violation. You
cannot win.
In the real world converters normally allow a 'No-vanish' attribute for
a data element which stops the compression at a single blank or zero.
You are then breaking the compression rules, although I prefer to think
of it as 'bending' them.
You may be missing something, but then I have been missing it as well
for the last 15 years.
I will be very interested to see what the list responses are for the X12
case you cite.
Regards
Chris
--
Chris Johnson mobile:+44 (0)7785 302122
EDIMatrix Ltd work: 0845 126 0680 or +44 20 8559 2454
fax: +44 (0)20 8559 2497
EDI website http://www.edimatrix.co.uk
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