[AccessD] EDI data file

Thanks Steve.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear but it is what I thought I
might hear.  Oh well, if this work was always easy I wouldn't have a job,
right?


----Original Message-----
From: Steven W. Erbach [mailto:serbach at new.rr.com]
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 3:34 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] EDI data file


Rusty,

>> The (very) limited help on the web site where we download the file from
says we need to use a conversion program to get the X12 file to a readable
format. Any help would be much appreciated. <<

Welcome to EDI. In the past three weeks I've visited a few dozen EDI sites
trying to get some good examples so that I can do that very thing you're
talking about. I'd had some limited EDI experience in the past. My client
wants a more customized solution without having to buy a full-bore EDI
package that includes every document type under the sun.

The amount of help is, indeed, very limited. There are no books on EDI at
the library. Barnes & Noble doesn't stock any. On top of that, just last
week I discovered that a sizeable component of good EDI programs is the
error-trapping; that is, an X12 file can have errors in it. If your software
doesn't allow for that, then you have junk.

EDI specs are difficult to translate into a neat and orderly relational
model. So you'd have quite a task making up tables to represent the EDI
"model."

I found a company that provides a moderately-priced tool to read and
translate EDI transactions using a Windows object model. Thus you can roll
your own EDI software and use the classes provided for EDI transactions just
as you use any other class. They provide samples in VB, Delphi, C++.NET, and
FoxPro. I used their 60-day eval program to detect an error in transmission
of a test X12 Purchase Order for a project I'm doing for a client of mine.

The product is called Framework EDI. The Professional version is $950.
There's an "Enterprise" and "Universal" version, too. I've persuaded my
client to bite the bullet and buy it since he'd have to pay me a lot more to
code something that wouldn't work nearly so well. Here's the web site:

http://www.edidev.com/

Of course, there are tons of EDI software sites on the web. This one was
different in that it offered a developer's toolbox sort of thing rather than
a complete package from A-Z.

Good luck!

Regards,

Steve Erbach
Scientific Marketing
Neenah, WI

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