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RE: Repetition Seperator ISA-11
Ron,
Although it made its appearance in 004020, the repetition separator didn't
have any formal use until the 004040 release. There was a change in the
syntax that mirrored a similar change in EDIFACT syntax which allows an
element to repeat in a segment. That is to say each element in a segment in
the X12 (& EDIFACT) standards has a repetition factor (most often 1) similar
to the repetition factor allotted to segments and loops.
A good example of this sort of thing would be the COM segment which, in
004060 is now defined as:
01 365 Communication Number Qualifier M 1 ID 2/2
02 364 Communication Number M 1 AN 1/256
03 C057 Communication Number Component O 9
In this example, the 3rd element, C057 could be repeated up to 9 times and
each repetiton would be separated by the repetition separator. Assuming *
for the element separator, : for sub-element separator and ^ for repetition
separator, you might see a COM segment that looks like this:
COM*TE*(925)555-1212*AA:01^BN:(925)555-1200^FX:(925)555-1299~
In that example, element COM01 is "TE", element COM02 is "(925)555-1212",
the first repeat of COM03 contains two sub-elements: "AA" and "01", the
second repeat of COM03 contains "BN" and "(925)555-1200" and the third
repeat contains "FX" and "(925)555-1299".
There are several reasons for incorporating the concept of repeating
elements into the standards:
1. They allow for transmission of repetitious data without having to repeat
entire segments.
2. They allow for transmission of data that is related in the form of an
array.
3. They allow greater flexibility in adjusting the standards. For example,
suppose at some future time, another element were added to the end of the
COM segment. Let's say it is a flag that indicates digital or analog (it
doesn't really matter, and who's to say what will be requested). Now we
have a COM segment that might look like this:
01 365 Communication Number Qualifier M 1 ID 2/2
02 364 Communication Number M 1 AN 1/256
03 C057 Communication Number Component O 9
04 xxx Comm medium type O 1 ID 1/1
...later, someone decides it would be better to have 10 communication number
components instead of 9. In the olden days, when elements were individually
placed, that tenth would have required a new element to be added to the end.
Now, they just need to change the repeat factor to 10. I believe this is
thought to ease the pain for just about anyone who has to work with the
segment.
At this point, the repetition factor is not terribly commonly used (as I
mentioned above, the default is 1...effectively providing the same
functionality as pre-004020). I had heard rumors that many of the segments
with repetitious elements (SDQ, LIN, etc.) might one day get a make-over to
incorporate the repeating element concepts in order to make future
maintenance that much simpler, but so far none of that has happened.
Hope that helps.
Best regards,
Bill Chessman
Inovis(tm), Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Katz [mailto:
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 11:44 AM
To:
Subject: [EDI-L] Repetition Seperator ISA-11
Has anyone had any experience with the ISA-11 Repetition separator?
Prior to version 004020 of X12, ISA-11 always stood for the Interchange
Control Standards ID and always contained a 'U'. Since 4020, the ISA-11
element is now used for a Repetition Separator. Apparently this can
contain any hex value. Does anyone know what this is used for exactly?
Thanks.
Ron Katz
ENTRACK Inc.
401-334-2463
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