Jean-Luc Champion, of BASF, suggests that we wait for the results of the ebXML initiative, at http://www.ebxml.org, instead of wasting any time with mechanical transformations of EDI using XML wrappers, or mechanically generating DTDs from X12 implementation guidelines or transaction sets. I agree, especially since XML wrapped EDI doesn't buy you anything, as RosettaNet found out much to its dismay. To take something complex such as EDIFACT or X12, and add even more complexity in the form of wrappers, is fulfillment of the old adage "All Pain, No Gain." All pain for the poor users who think this will make B2B interoperability any easier. Though it's not that painful for vendors to come up with this stuff! Any idiot can wrap EDI up in XML tags, along the lines of RosettaNet's failed RNIF 1.0. And to prove my point, I asked the village idiot at FORESIGHT to do just this: he took the world-renowned EDISIM Analyzer, used for compliance testing EDI data against guidelines, and added code to transform EDI (regardless of variety - X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, etc.) to XML wrapped EDI. 20 or so lines of code, spread over 4 or 5 places, was enough to regurgitate the input EDI as wrapped EDI. Probably any EDI vendor could likewise modify their translator to do the same, in an equally short time. And it takes no longer to go the other way round: as a test, we quickly coded up an XSL style sheet to take the XML wrappers and generate the original EDI! Equivalent C++ code using the DOM, for embedding in the Analyzer, was slightly less trivial than the 15 line style sheet. I'm really hard-pressed to determine a use for this exercise, though I'd be tempted to include the input and output transforms in our next release of EDISIM, and bill them as a gee-whiz features! If wrapped EDI is this easy (for the vendor), I have to ask: "what's the purpose?" But as I wrote last April 6th regarding the DIN 16557-4 XML wrapper technique: Maybe this stuff provides a useful pedagogical tool. It's amazing how many people are thoroughly cowed at the thought of mapping X12 or EDIFACT, but would not be the least bit fazed at writing a Java, Visual Basic or Perl program to navigate an XML document with tags like "BGM02"! To buttress Jean-Luc's recommendation of ebXML, I describe the expected results of that initiative at http://www.xml.org/archives/ebxml/2000/06/0032.html. William J. Kammerer FORESIGHT Corp. 4950 Blazer Memorial Pkwy. Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305 (614) 791-1600 Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/ "Commerce for a New World" ------ XML/edi Group Discussion List ------ Homepage = http://www.XMLedi-Group.org Unsubscribe = send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Leave the subject and body of the message blank Questions/requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To join the XML/edi Group complete the form located at: http://www.xmledi-group.org/xmledigroup/mail1.htm
