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Re: Amount fields to be empty if they are zero?
Thanks Chris,
I do EDIFACT also. I knew about the suppress leading zeroes and
trailing blanks, but I wasn't aware of the notion of deleting a zero
valued numeric field.
In my opinion, that compression rule has to be ignored where a value
of zero must be specified. If back end software reckoned with that
rule, would it cause Jan 1, 1970 to be unknown?
I was looking to see if anyone could cite the X12 syntax rules on
that point (which I sheepishly admit I do not have at hand).
I have to get on a conference call with our supplier and our tech
support person to sort out their confusion.
Thanks,
Andrew
--- In Chris Johnson <chrisj@e...> wrote:
> Quoted text is from <b9eokl+stk8@e...>, by Andrew BK
> <edi_meister@y...>
>
> >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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