On Oct 23, 2007, at 9:20 AM, Steven Santillo wrote:
> Can someone give me a short answer on "what is the
> purpose of the sub-element separator" and how it would
> apply in a real world EDI situation?
A sub-element separator separates sub-elements in a compound element.
They originated in EDIFACT where they are used extensively as
composites, and now are part of X12 as well where they are not so
much used. For example, the REF segment has four elements:
REF01 - Ref ID qualifier (element ID 128)
REF02 - Ref ID (element ID 127)
REF03 - Description (element ID 352)
REF04 - Ref ID (element ID C040)
The last element is a compound element which contains 6 subelements -
3 pairs of Ref ID Qualifiers and Ref IDs.
The element separator separates REF01, REF02, REF03 and REF04, and
the subelement separator separates the subelements in REF04. If the
element separator is "*", the subelement separator is ">", and
segment terminator is "~", the REF can look like:
REF*PK*1234**BM>4321~
As to their original real world use (at least in EDIFACT), it is to
group related data elements together, such as coded and clear
instances of the same data and its associated codelist identifier and
responsible agency. The example below shows the use of three
composites within one EDIFACT segment. With out the use of
"subelements" skipping over unused elements would create a long
string of separators.
EVE EVENT
Function: To specify details about events.
010 9635 EVENT DETAILS CODE QUALIFIER C 1 an..3
020 C004 EVENT CATEGORY C 1
9637 Event category code C an..3
1131 Code list identification code C an..3
3055 Code list responsible agency code C an..3
9636 Event category description C an..70
030 C030 EVENT TYPE C 1
9171 Event type description code C an..3
1131 Code list identification code C an..3
3055 Code list responsible agency code C an..3
9170 Event type description C an..70
040 C063 EVENT IDENTIFICATION C 1
9173 Event description code C an..35
1131 Code list identification code C an..3
3055 Code list responsible agency code C an..3
9172 Event C an..256
050 1229 ACTION REQUEST/NOTIFICATION DESCRIPTION
CODE C 1 an..3
Hope this helps.
Klaus
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