Ah the fans of the fire have begun... > The analyst that I was working with could not, for the life of her, find > the > errant XML transaction in her system because she had to manually look > through all of the XML transactions for that day. I had no experience > with > their system so I refrained from helpful suggestions like "Why don't you > use > 'grep?'" and "See, I told you that this XML stuff is for the birds." >
Why not use grep? XML is after all nothing but a text document. In fact, I would argue that you'd be able to find data better in an XML document using grep than you could in an X12 document. It's alot easier to find "<OrderId>3122005</OrderId>" than it is to find "3122005" in an 850 (meaning that the numbers alone can very easily return more than what you're wanting). > However, I wager that if I had the same volume of transactions in X12 that > she had in XML, that if we both started at the same time I could find my > data a HELLUVA lot faster than she could. And at the end of the day, > it's > not the 99.99% of the transactions that work that we care about so much; > it's the 0.01% that don't. > There are pros and cons in every situation and ultimately it depends on what tools you have in your given situation. At one client, they had no less than 5 Translators for their various clients (ECXpert (2 different versions at that), Biztalk, Mercator's one (PC-something-or-other), an inhouse flexible system, and a custom-built-into-back-office VBapp). I knew that all XML messages were coming through the inhouse system (yes, they used Biztalk for X12 messages), but all of the X12 documents depended on the client, the message (ECXpert received messages, where-as Biztalk sent messages for some clients), how far the message made it in the system, etc. Your arguement could very well be said in reverse in this case. Never dismiss a technology just because it may not suite your immediate needs. > XML not ready for prime time? You betcha it's not. I'm getting more > entertainment out of this than I am with HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. > Of course it is, it just depends on what station you're tuned into. I've worked with *many* small business clients who love using XML instead of X12. They can open the document and feel like they know what their looking at. Is it proprietary for them? You betcha, but they don't need to use X12, so why should they? An XML solution got them in business with large retailers faster, cheaper and suited their needs. BTW, what's Blu-Ray? Bryce K. Nielsen SysOnyx, Inc. (www.sysonyx.com) Makers of xmlLinguist, the Text-To-XML Translator http://www.sysonyx.com/products/xmllinguist . 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/
