MSDN Magazine - August 2008 - (Page 59)

can enable you to integrate your EDI processes more easily with the rest of your enterprise. I will walk through several critical aspects of working with the new BizTalk Server EDI components, illustrating the different aspects of schema creation, document mapping, EDI delivery and transmission, and exception handling. Developing an EDI Schema To understand EDI schema development, first look at the specifics of the document structure itself. An EDI document can best be described as a simple text file consisting of three parts: the Header, the Detail, and the Footer. The Header defines from where the document came and for whom it is intended, the document type, and some date information. The Detail contains all of the business information that gives meaning to the document. For example, in the case of an invoice, the Detail consists of such information as line items, descriptions of sold products, pricing, quantities, and totals. The Footer consists of summary information about the Detail rows, such as the total number of lines included within the document. EDI documents are formatted in segments, with each row of data containing a number of named segments. The format and composition of these segments are dictated by standards such as X12 and Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Com- cases it is unnecessary to modify the default schema instances. But merce, and Transport (EDIFACT). For X12 documents, the seg- in this case, assume that Company X requires N401 (city name) ments ISA and GS are considered to be the Header, the segments to have a maximum length of 10 characters instead of the default GE and IEA correspond to the Footer, and all lines in between the length of 30. To change the length, click the N401 node and look Header and Footer are the Detail (see Figure 1). for the Maximum Length value in the property window. Enter the For EDIFACT documents, all segments that begin with the new value here. This will ensure that if a document tries to pass characters UN correspond either to the Header (UNA, UNB,) or through the system with more than 10 characters, an EDI error will the Footer (UNT, UNZ), while all segments in between are the be thrown indicating an invalid document. During the mapping Details. Segments and rows are separated from one another with process, it will be necessary to truncate this field before mapping separator characters, and these characters can be different for dif- it into the EDI schema. ferent trading partners. In both document formats, data is generally separated by the asterisk (*) character, and rows are separated EDI Mapping by line feeds, tildes (~), or any other mutually agreed upon charSuppose Company A has an XML representation of an invoice acter combination. that needs to be mapped to the EDI standard before delivery. It BizTalk Server 2006 R2 ships with thousands of predefined EDI also needs to map all invoice line items to the IT1 loop and place schemas that function as starting points for all documents ex- the total number mapped in the CTT02 node. changed by trading partners. Generally these schemas are altered Prior to mapping, all of the schemas, whether specifically in to reflect specific expected formats. Though EDI has document EDI format or not, need to be defined and added to the solution. standards, the reality is that two trading partners who both ex- Company A has an XML version of the invoice data that needs to change 810 Invoice documents may still have two different repre- be mapped to 810 Invoice format prior to transmission. This XML sentations of the 810 and therefore require two different schemas. data must have an associated BizTalk schema, and in this case, the These schemas will be very closely related and may only differ in schema looks like that shown in Figure 2. one or two segments. For example, one may truncate a street address at 50 characters while another allows for 100. But even this small difference requires that the default 810 XML Schema Definition (XSD) be modified and implemented separately for both parties. The first step in schema development is to define the electronic doc- Figure 1 An X12 EDI Document (810—Invoice) uments that will be exchanged and to develop the corresponding schemas. Using the invoice example, you would begin by adding a copy of the default 810 Invoice schema to your BizTalk solution. Schema templates can be found in the \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\XSD_Schema\EDI directory in the file MicrosoftEdiXSDTemplates.exe. Run the executable to extract the templates, then find the file named X12_00401_810.xsd and add it to a BizTalk solution in Visual Studio®. This XSD represents the superset of all data that can be part of an 810 Invoice. Say you are going to define an invoice document exchange between Company A and Company X. The next step is to create an XSD representation of Company A’s XML document; this will act as the source document when creating the EDI instance. In many EDI documents are simple text files consisting of a Header, a Detail, and a Footer. msdnmagazine.com August 2008 59 http://msdnmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of MSDN Magazine - August 2008

MSDN Magazine - August 2008 Toolbox CLR Inside Out Basic Instincts Cutting Edge Patterns in Practice Data 2.0 - Expose And Consume Data In A Web Services World Biztalk EDI - Build A Robust EDI Solution With BizTalk Server Silverlight - Create Animations With XAML And Expression Blend Write On! - Create Web Apps You Can Draw On With Silverlight 2 Wicked Code - Craft Custom Controls For Silverlight 2 Team System Foundations Windows With C++ Concurrent Affairs Going Places { End Bracket }

MSDN Magazine - August 2008

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