>While the points made about XML below (ie., one XML root document per >file, the hierarchy questions, etc.) are quite correct, it always >troubles me to see examples that at least suggest a one-to-one mapping >between an EDI document or interchange and XML. If that's all that a >given product can do (reformat the EDI into pretty "human readable" >bits), I must ask, yet again, "what's the point?" Assuming that someone >actually did such a transformation one would still be faced with all of >the old problems that have dogged EDI...semantic content remains >unclear, coded fields remain coded and their respective meanings are >those of the Trading Partner (not necessarily in alignment with the >standards themselves), to name just two. On top of that, you expand the >size of the data (I expect disk drive manufacturers have no problems >with that). The task of getting the data from the documents to the >application remain the same (some sort of map must be created). >
When we set out to create xmlLinguist, it's orginal intent was *not* to be an X12-to-XML transformation. Rather, it was a "structured text" to XML translation. Many different companies have legacy flatfiles that if only they could get it into XML, then it would be a lot easier to manipulate, transform, etc. And that is exactly what xmlLinguist does, it translates the document directly into XML. What you do with it afterwards is your business. This does three main things: A) keeps xmlLinguist very simple and straight-forward, which in turn makes the translation very fast and efficient. B) Allows the translation of *any* structured document (not just X12) and C) keeps the cost of xmlLinguist very low (retails for $79.95 USD). We figured there is already a very powerful transformation language for XML called XML Stylesheets or XSL, so why reinvent the wheel there. Focus on getting the document into XML and be done with it. And you are correct, the real work is in deciding what to with the data once it's in XML. However, in our opinion, it's much faster and affordable to deal with your data in XML than in a text document, and xmlLinguist is the first step to getting there. Bryce K. Nielsen SysOnyx, Inc. (www.sysonyx.com) Makers of xmlLinguist, the Text-to-XML Translator http://www.xmllinguist.com . Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Access the list online at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
