IBM Integration Bus, Version 10.0.0.2 Operating Systems: AIX, HP-Itanium, Linux, Solaris, Windows, z/OS


TDS common MRM entities

The common entities for all TDS MRM information are listed here.

Details of this text reuse file

This file is used to contain information that is common to the TDS layer in the MRM documentation.

The tables below define the properties of objects where they are common for multiple topics. The properties have been grouped together where they appear grouped in the product. The exception is the first table which contains properties used all over the place!

Some tables or sections are used as a whole, but most tables just contain the rows that define the object property. To view the row ID you must view the table markup. This displays the ID as an attribute.

In most cases there is a single row for a property where there are no differences between where it is used for each object or object type. In other cases there are multiple rows for each property where there are differences in the meaning for a property between each object type. For example, binary, Boolean, and string. Occasionally where this has happened, a common row is defined that contains all the information required, and rows are then built beneath that one that contain links to the specific information for building the description of that property for that type.

Extreme caution should be used when editing this file to ensure that the changes you make affect only those topics that are required to be changed. In some cases, this common information is used in more than 20 topics.

DUE TO DEVELOPMENT SHUFFLING PROPERTIES FROM ONE GROUPING TO ANOTHER, THIS HAS UNFORTUNATELY MADE THE VAGUE NAMING CONVENTION USED IN THIS FILE PRETTY IRRELEVANT. NEW PROPERTIES NO LONGER HAVE A NAMING CONVENTION THAT TIES THEM TO THE GROUPING THEY ARE IN!!!

Representation of null values

Property Type Meaning
Encoding Null Enumerated type Select one of the following options from the list:
  • NULLPadFill. This option is valid only for fixed-length objects and is the default value.
  • NULLLogicalValue. The Encoding Null Value property is first converted to an actual value, and rendered in the way specified for the field.
  • NULLLiteralValue. This option specifies that Encoding Null Value contains a value that is directly substituted as if it is a string. For dateTime elements, use this option if you want to use the Encoding Null Value property to test or compare the content of the field in the message.
  • NULLLiteralFill. This option specifies that the field is filled with the value specified by the Encoding Null Value property. Encoding Null Value must resolve to a single character.

The option that you select determines the value that you must set for the property Encoding Null Value.

For full information about using these options, see Message Sets: TDS Null handling options.

Encoding Null Value String The use of this property depends on the Encoding Null property. The default value is zero.

If you set the Encoding Null property for a dateTime object to NULLLogicalValue, the value that you set must be in an ISO8601 dateTime format.

These formats are described in Message Sets: DateTime as string data.

For example, specify a value that conforms to the yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss format; for example, 1970-12-01.

Field Identification

Property Type Meaning
Data Element Separation Enumerated type Select one of the following values to specify the method that is used to separate the data elements within the type.
  • Tagged Delimited. This value indicates that all elements within the complex type are identified by a tag, and, if a value is specified in the optional Delimiter property, are separated by that value. You must set the Tag property for all child elements of simple type, and you can set the Delimiter property to a non-empty value. See Message Sets: Global element TDS properties. You must also set the Tag Data Separator or the Length of Tag property.
  • Tagged Fixed Length. This value indicates that each element is identified by a tag, and the data has a fixed length. There are no delimiters. You must set the Tag property for each of the child elements of this complex type, and each child element must have a Length or Length Reference property assigned to it. You must also set the Tag Data Separator or the Length of Tag property.
  • Tagged Encoded Length. This value indicates that all elements within the complex type are separated by a tag, and a length field follows each tag. There are no delimiters. The tag can be fixed length, as set by the Length of Tag property, or variable length delimited by the Tag Data Separator property. You must also set the Length Of Encoded Length property so that the parser knows the size of the length field, and set the Extra Chars in Encoded Length property. This property tells the parser what to subtract from the value in the Length Of Encoded Length property to get the actual length of the data that follows the length field.

    This method provides a more flexible way of handling ACORD AL3 standard messages than using the Fixed Length AL3 value, by allowing different parts of the messages to be at different versions of the ACORD AL3 standard.

  • All Elements Delimited. This value indicates that all elements within the complex type are separated by a delimiter. You must set a value in the Delimiter property.
  • Variable Length Elements Delimited. This value indicates that some of the elements within the complex type might be of variable length. Variable length elements must be delimited by the value specified in the Delimiter property.
  • Use Data Pattern. This value indicates that the parser determines the elements by matching the data with the regular expression that is set in the Data Pattern property of the element or type member. See Message Sets: Message definition file properties.
  • Fixed Length. This value indicates that all elements within the complex type are fixed length. The next data element is accessed by adding the value of the Length property to the offset. See Message Sets: Global element TDS properties. If you set the Data Element Separation property of a complex type to Fixed Length, you must also set the Data Element Separation property of all complex children of this type to Fixed Length. Each child element must have a Length or Length Reference property assigned to it.
  • Fixed Length AL3. This value has a similar meaning to the separation type Fixed Length, but also indicates to the parser that a number of predefined rules regarding missing optional elements, encoded lengths, and versioning, must be applied. If you set the Data Element Separation property of a complex type to Fixed Length AL3, you must also set the Data Element Separation property of all complex children of this type to Fixed Length AL3.
  • Undefined. This value is set automatically if you set the Type Composition property of a complex type to Message, and you cannot change it to any other value.

    Do not set the Type Composition property to Empty, Choice, Unordered Set, Ordered Set, Sequence, or Simple Unordered Set. If you do, you cannot check in the type.

Group Indicator String Specify the value of a special character, or string, that precedes the data that belongs to a group, or a complex type, within the bit stream.
Group Terminator String Specify the value of a special character, or string, that terminates the data that belongs to a group, or a complex type, within the bit stream.
Delimiter String Specify the value of a special character, or string, that specifies the delimiter that is used between data elements.

This property applies only to the delimited Data Element Separation methods (Tagged Delimited, All Elements Delimited, and Variable Length Elements Delimited).

Suppress Absent Element Delimiters Enumerated type Use this property to select whether you want delimiters to be suppressed for elements that are missing within a message.
Select from:
  • End Of Type. Use this option to suppress the delimiter when an element is missing. For example, if the model has been defined to have up to three elements and only two are present, the last delimiter can be omitted from the message.
  • Never. Use this option to ensure that even if optional elements are not present, all delimiters are written out. Use this option when the same delimiter is used to delimit parent and child objects. For example, if an optional child element is missing, message processing applications cannot tell where the child elements in a message end and the next parent element starts, if the delimiters are all the same.
Observe Element Length Check box This property is applicable when Data Element Separation is All Elements Delimited or Tagged Delimited. Select this check box if the Length property of child simple elements is significant when parsing and writing.
  • During parsing, an exception is thrown if the length of the extracted data exceeds the specified length. Otherwise, the data is trimmed according to the Justification and Padding Character properties of the child element.
  • During writing, an exception is thrown if the data to write exceeds the specified length. Otherwise, the data is padded according to the Justification and Padding Character properties of the child element.

Clear this check box to ignore the Length property when parsing and writing.

The default value depends on the setting of the Messaging Standard property (at the message set level) and the Data Element Separation property.
  • If Data Element Separation is All Elements Delimited and the Messaging Standard is TLOG, the check box is selected.
  • If Data Element Separation is All Elements Delimited and the Messaging Standard is other than TLOG, the check box is cleared.
  • If Data Element Separation is Tagged Delimited, the check box is cleared.
For all other data element separation methods, the check box is disabled and does not influence the behavior of the TDS parser.
Tag Data Separator Button and String Specify the value of a special character or string that separates the Tag from the data. The Tag Data Separator and Length of Tag properties are mutually exclusive.

If you set the property Tag Data Separator, it overrides Length of Tag.

This property applies only to the tagged Data Element Separation methods (Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, and Tagged Encoded Length).

Length of Tag Button and Integer Specify the length of a tag value. When the message is parsed, this property allows tags to be extracted from the bit stream if the Tag Data Separator property is not set.

The Tag Data Separator and Length of Tag properties are mutually exclusive. If you set the property Tag Data Separator, it overrides this value.

This property applies only to the tagged Data Element Separation methods (Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, and Tagged Encoded Length).

Length of Encoded Length Integer Specifies the number of characters (not bytes) after a tag that are used for the length field. Enter a value from 0 to 2147483647.

You must set this property if you have set the Data Element Separation property to Tagged Encoded Length; it is not valid otherwise.

The actual number of data characters that are parsed depends on the value of the Extra Chars in Encoded Length property.

Extra Chars in Encoded Length Integer (Only valid if the Data Element Separation method is set to Tagged Encoded Length.) Specifies the number of extra characters included in the value found in the length field. (For example, the value in the length might include the size of the length field itself as well as the size of the data field, or it might be the total size of the tag, length, and data fields.)

Enter a value from 0 to 2147483647. The parser subtracts this number from the number found in the length field to get the number of data characters that follow the length field.

You must set this property if you have set the Data Element Separation property to Tagged Encoded Length, and the actual number of data characters is less than the value found in the length field.

Tag String Specify the value that is used to identify the object in a message bit stream.

If the object is simple and the Data Element Separation property of the complex type or types in which the object is a child is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, this property must contain a non-empty value.

If the object is a complex element, and the Data Element Separation property of its parent is Tagged Delimited, Tagged Fixed Length, or Tagged Encoded Length, the property can contain an empty value.

The value for this property must be unique for every element in the message set; that is, no two elements in the message set can contain the same value for this property.

Data Pattern String Specify the regular expression that the parser uses to identify the data in the message to assign to the object. This property is used when the Data Element Separation method is set to Use Data Pattern in the complex type. For more details, see Message Sets: Regular expression syntax.
Interpret Element Value Enumerated type Specify whether values stored within this object are interpreted as having significance for the parser and, if so, the type of interpretation that occurs. This interpretation is standard-specific and is therefore hard coded.

The possible values for this property are:

  • None (the default value)
  • EDIFACT Service String
  • X12 Service String
  • Message Key
  • EDIFACT Syntax Level ID
  • HL7 Service String
  • HL7 Field Separator
Note: The Message Key enumeration has been deprecated.
Interpret Element Value Enumerated type Specify whether values stored within this object are interpreted as having significance for the parser and, if so, the type of interpretation that occurs. This interpretation is standard-specific and is therefore hard coded.

The possible values for this property are:

  • None (the default value)
  • EDIFACT Service String
  • X12 Service String
  • Message Key
  • EDIFACT Syntax Level ID
  • HL7 Service String
  • HL7 Field Separator
Length Reference Enumerated type This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text, Binary, or TLOG Specific. If set, this property takes precedence over any value in the Length Units property.

Specify the identifier of a sibling integer object, the value of which determines the length of the object in question. The sibling object must be defined before the current object within the message structure.

For information about reordering elements, see Message Sets: Reordering objects.

Inclusive Length Reference Check box This property is applicable only if Length Reference is set.

If the check box is selected, the value of the sibling integer object that is identified by Length Reference is the length of the current object plus the length of the sibling integer object.

If the check box is not selected, the value of the sibling integer object that is identified by Length Reference is the length of the current object only.

If the check box is selected, the Length Units property of the sibling integer object must be the same as that of the current object.

Occurrences

Property Type Meaning
Repeating Element Delimiter String Specify the delimiter to use between repeating elements.

This delimiter is used only when the element repeats and the Data Element Separation property of the parent group or complex type is set to All Elements Delimited or Variable Length Elements Delimited.

A default value is provided if the previous conditions are true; if the messaging standard is HL7, the mnemonic <HL7_RS> is used; if the messaging standard is not HL7, and the maximum number of repeats is fixed, the delimiter of the parent group or complex type is used.

If none of the previous conditions are true, a default is not applied.

Repeat reference Enumerated type Use this property if the object occurs multiple times, and the number of occurrences is given dynamically by a field earlier in the message. Select an integer object from the list of integer objects that occur before this object in the structure of the message. The value of the selected integer specifies the number of occurrences of this object. If no objects are listed, no integer objects exist before this one in the message structure.

If a Repeat Reference is specified, it overrides any setting for the Max Occurs logical property when parsing and writing the message, but not for validating the message.

Physical representation

Property Type Meaning
Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Binary. The data is in bit string format.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The first two bytes of the data contain the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • Binary. The data is in bit string format.
  • Time Seconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java™ Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data.
  • Time Milliseconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • TLOG Specific - this option can be selected only if the Message Standard property of the message set is TLOG. This option indicates that the format of the data is specific to the TLOG messaging standard.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Float. Equates to the data type FLOAT or DOUBLE in C, or the COMP-1 or COMP-2 numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The data's first 2 bytes contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The first two bytes of the data contain the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
  • TLOG Specific - this option can be selected only if the Message Standard property of the message set is TLOG. This option indicates that the format of the data is specific to the TLOG messaging standard.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.
For all Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Binary and cannot be changed. Select one of the following values:
Physical Type Enumerated type For all Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Binary and cannot be changed.
Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Binary. The data is in bit string format.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The first two bytes of the data contain the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • Binary. The data is in bit string format.
  • Time Seconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data.
  • Time Milliseconds. This value supports C time_t, and Java Date and Time objects. It is valid only if the DateTime Format property represents numeric-only data.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • TLOG Specific - this option can be selected only if the Message Standard property of the message set is TLOG. This option indicates that the format of the data is specific to the TLOG messaging standard.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Float. Equates to the data type FLOAT or DOUBLE in C, or the COMP-1 or COMP-2 numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Integer. Equates to the data type SHORT or LONG in C, or the COMP, COMP-4, COMP-5, or BINARY numeric data type in COBOL.
  • Packed Decimal. The data is a packed decimal number that equates to the COMP-3 data type in COBOL.
  • External Decimal. The data is a decimal number that equates to the data type PIC 9 USAGE DISPLAY in COBOL.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The data's first 2 bytes contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Physical Type Enumerated type Select the physical type of the object.
If the Messaging Standard property of the message set is User Defined Text, User Defined Mixed, CSV, or TLOG, select one of the following values:
  • Text. The data is in character format.
  • Length Encoded String 1. The first byte of the data contains the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the length byte. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 1 element is 255 length units.
  • Length Encoded String 2. The first two bytes of the data contain the length (in length units) of the data string that follows the two length bytes. The maximum length of a Length Encoded String 2 element is 65535 length units.
  • Null Terminated String. The data string ends with the hexadecimal NULL character, X'00'.
  • TLOG Specific - this option can be selected only if the Message Standard property of the message set is TLOG. This option indicates that the format of the data is specific to the TLOG messaging standard.
The default is dependent on the Messaging Standard property.

For all other Messaging Standard values, the Physical Type property is set to Text.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if no Length Reference is specified.

The default is dependent on the setting of the message set property Derive default length from logical type. If Derive default length from logical type is selected, the default value is derived from any length or maxLength value constraint (schema facet) on the object's simple type.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if no Length Reference is specified.

If this property is not set and the message set property Derive default length from logical type is selected, and the Physical type is 'Character', the default value is derived from any length or maxLength value constraint (schema facet) on the simple type.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if no Length Reference is specified.

If this property is not set and the message set property Derive default length from logical type is selected, and the Physical type is 'Character', the default value is derived from any totalDigits value constraint (schema facet) or, if none, any minInclusive, maxInclusive, minExclusive, or maxExclusive value constraints (schema facets), on the simple type.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if no Length Reference is specified.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.
A non-zero length must be specified if one of the following statements is true:
  • Physical Type is Packed Decimal.
  • Physical Type is Text, no Length Reference is specified, and the Data Element Separation of the parent complex type or group is Fixed Length, Tagged Fixed Length, or Fixed Length AL3.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object.

If Physical Type is Length Encoded String 1, Length Encoded String 2, or Null Terminated String, this property is not applicable.

If Physical Type is Time Seconds, the value of this property is 4, and cannot be changed.

If Physical Type is Time Milliseconds, the value of this property is 8, and cannot be changed.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.
A non-zero length must be specified if one of the following statements is true:
  • Physical Type is Packed Decimal, Integer, or External Decimal.
  • Physical Type is TLOG Specific, no Length Reference is specified, and the Data Element Separation of the parent complex type or group is Fixed Length, Tagged Fixed Length, or Fixed Length AL3.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object and the setting of message set property Derive default length from logical type. If Derive default length from logical type is selected, where possible the default value is derived from the totalDigits, or minInclusive and maxInclusive, or minExclusive and maxExclusive value constraints (schema facets) on the object's simple type.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if Physical Type is Integer, Packed Decimal, External Decimal, or Float.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if Physical Type is Text or TLOG Specific, no Length Reference is specified, and the Data Element Separation of the parent complex type or group is Fixed Length, Tagged Fixed Length, or Fixed Length AL3.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object and the setting of message set property Derive default length from logical type. If Derive default length from logical type is selected, where possible the default value is derived from the length or maxLength value constraints (schema facets) on the object's simple type.

If Physical Type is Length Encoded String 1, Length Encoded String 2, or Null Terminated String, this property is not applicable.

Length Integer Specify the expected length of the object in length units.

A non-zero length must be specified if Physical Type is Text or TLOG Specific, no Length Reference is specified, and the Data Element Separation of the parent complex type or group is Fixed Length, Tagged Fixed Length, or Fixed Length AL3.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object and the setting of message set property Derive default length from logical type. If Derive default length from logical type is selected, where possible the default value is derived from the length or maxLength value constraints (schema facets) on the object's simple type.

If Physical Type is Length Encoded String 1, Length Encoded String 2, or Null Terminated String, this property is not applicable.

Length Units Enumerated type

If Physical Type is Null Terminated String, this property is Characters, and cannot be changed.

If Physical Type is Packed Decimal, Binary, Time Seconds, or Time Milliseconds, this property is Bytes, and cannot be changed.

Otherwise you can select either Bytes or Characters.
Length Units Enumerated type Select the unit of length for the object.
Select one of the following options (some physical types do not offer both options):
  • Bytes. The length is given in bytes.
  • Characters. The length is given in characters. The number of bytes that are processed in the bit stream depends on the code page of the message.
    • For a single-byte code page (SBCS CCSID) such as "latin-1" (CCSID 850), the number of bytes is equal to the number of characters.
    • For a double-byte code page (DBCS CCSID) such as "UTF-16" (CCSID 1200), the number of bytes is exactly twice the number of characters.
    • For a multibyte code page (MBCS CCSID) such as "UTF-8" (CCSID 1208), the number of bytes depends on the contents of the bit stream. The parser reads one character at a time and determines whether the character comprises one or more bytes.

The default is dependent on the physical type of the object.

Length Units Enumerated type Always set to Bytes.
Justification Enumerated type

Specify the justification of the object if the data being written or parsed is less than the fixed-length value. This property is used only when a value is written as a fixed-length string.

Select one of the following values from the list:

  • Not Applicable
  • Left Justify
  • Right Justify
Padding Character String Specify the padding character to be inserted or interpreted on the writing or parsing of a fixed-length object, if the data is less than the fixed-length value. This property is used only when a value is written as a fixed-length string.

Set this character in one of the following ways:

  • Select NUL, '0', or SPACE from the drop-down list.
  • Enter a character between quotation marks, for example "c" or 'c', where c is any alphanumeric character.
  • Enter a hexadecimal character code in the form 0xYY, where YY is a hexadecimal value.
  • Enter a Unicode value in the form U+xxxx, where xxxx is a Unicode value specified in hexadecimal. The maximum length of the string that you can enter is 10.

The choice of which of these padding character forms is used for an MRM element depends on the padding character required and whether the padding character is subject to data conversion.

In most cases, the specification of a padding character is sufficient, and when this padding character is used, it is converted to the target code page of the output MRM message that is generated.

If a padding character is required that cannot easily be entered in the padding character field, the Unicode mnemonic format can be used to specify the required character. When used, this Unicode value is also converted to the target code page of the MRM message that is generated.

If a padding character is required that is not subject to data conversion, the hexadecimal format can be used. This gives the option of specifying a padding character that is inserted directly into the output message. If this format is used, you must ensure that the hexadecimal value is valid for the code page of any output messages that are created using these MRM definitions.

If you convert a message from one code page to another, you must ensure that the converted value of the padding character is valid for this code page. For example, when converting from ASCII to code page 500, if you have specified the numeric 8 as your padding character, it is converted from 0x08 to 0x15; the ASCII and EBCDIC representations of Backspace.

There is a currently a restriction that the value of your padding character must not be greater than U+007F. If you enter a Unicode mnemonic or numeric value, it is considered to be the character that is represented by that number in UTF-8.

DateTime Format String Specify a template for date and time.

The default DateTime format is dependent on the logical type of the object. For information about the defaults for the dateTime format according to the logical type, see Message Sets: DateTime defaults by logical type.

See Message Sets: DateTime formats for details of date and time formats.

Numeric representation

Property Type Meaning
Signed Check box Specify whether the value is signed.

This property is applicable only if the Physical type property is Packed Decimal. By default, this check box is cleared, which indicates that the value is not signed.

Numeric representation

Property Type Meaning
Signed Check box Specify whether the value is signed.

If you have set the Physical Type property to Packed Decimal, External Decimal, Time Seconds, or Time Milliseconds, select (the default) or clear the check box, depending on whether the value is signed. If you have selected another value for Physical Type, this property is not used.

Signed Check box Specify whether the value is signed.
Sign EBCDIC Custom Overpunched Check box Specify whether EBCDIC custom sign format is used.

This property is applicable only if the Signed property is selected and the Physical Type property is set to External Decimal.

Sign Orientation Enumerated type
The values that you can choose for this property are:
  • Leading Separate
  • Trailing Separate
  • Leading Overpunched
  • Trailing Overpunched

This property is enabled only if you have set Physical Type to Text or External Decimal, and you have selected Signed.

If Physical Type is Text, the only valid values of Sign Orientation are Leading Separate and Trailing Separate.

If Physical Type is External Decimal and Sign EBCDIC Customer Overpunched is selected, the only valid values of Sign Orientation are Leading Overpunched and Trailing Overpunched.

Positive Sign String Specify the value that represents the positive symbol. Do not specify a numeric value. If no value is set, "+" is assumed. The positive sign is not written when creating an output message; it is used only to recognize the positive sign when parsing a message bit stream.

This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text and Signed is selected.

Negative Sign String Specify the value that represents the negative symbol. Do not specify a numeric value. If no value is set, "-" is assumed.

This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text and Signed is selected.

Virtual Decimal Point Button and Integer Specify a non-zero integer that represents the position of an implied decimal point within a number, or specify 0, the default, to use the formatting of Float or Decimal numbers as specified by the Precision property.

If you specify a positive integer, the position of the decimal point is moved left from the right side of the number. For example, if you specify 3, the decimal value 1234 represents 1.234

If you specify a negative integer, the position of the decimal point is moved right from the right side of the number. For example, if you specify -3, the decimal value 1234 represents 1,234,000.

Precision Button and Integer This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text. It is used if the value of the Virtual Decimal Point property is 0, which indicates that the decimal point is present in the data. It deals with truncation, and specifies how many digits are to follow the decimal point.

Either specify a number of digits:

  • If you set Precision to 0, data is truncated so that the fractional part is lost. For example, the value 123.45 is truncated to 123.
  • If you set Precision to a number less than the number of fractional digits, data is truncated. For example, the value 123.4567 is truncated to 123.45 if you set Precision to 2.
  • If you set Precision to a number greater than the number of fractional digits, the value is padded with extra zeros. For example, the value 12.345 is padded to 12.34500 if you set Precision to 5.

Or select one option from the list:

  • All Significant Digits - decimal separator only required if fractional digits (the default): all significant digits are written to the output bit stream, and no decimal separator is written if no fractional digits are present.
  • Explicit Decimal Separator - decimal separator always required: all significant digits are written to the output bit stream and the decimal separator is always included, even when no fractional digits are present. The decimal separator must be present in the input bit stream, even when no fractional digits are present.
  • Exponential Notation - Example "1.23456e002": data is written out to the bit stream as a signed value having the format [sign1]a.bbbe[sign2]ccc where:
    • [sign1] is the value of Negative Sign if the value is negative
    • a is a single decimal digit
    • bbb is one or more decimal digits
    • [sign2] is the value of Negative Sign if the exponent is negative
    • ccc is exactly three decimal digits (the exponent)
    [sign1] and [sign2] are absent if the value and exponent are positive.

    For example, the value -123.456 is represented as -1.23456e002 and the value 0.00012 is represented as 1.2e-004 in the output bit stream, assuming that the value of Negative Sign is "-", and the value of Sign Orientation is Leading.

    The value -0.00012 is represented as 1.2*e*004 if Negative Sign is "*" and Sign Orientation is Trailing.

Precision Button and Integer This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text. It is used if the value of the Virtual Decimal Point property is 0, which indicates that the decimal point is present in the data. It deals with truncation, and specifies how many digits are to follow the decimal point.

Either specify a number of digits:

  • If you set Precision to 0, data is truncated so that the fractional part is lost. For example, the value 123.45 is truncated to 123.
  • If you set Precision to a number less than the number of fractional digits, data is truncated. For example, the value 123.4567 is truncated to 123.45 if you set Precision to 2.
  • If you set Precision to a number greater than the number of fractional digits, the value is padded with extra zeros. For example, the value 12.345 is padded to 12.34500 if you set Precision to 5.

Or select one option from the list:

  • All Significant Digits - decimal separator only required if fractional digits (the default): all significant digits are written to the output bit stream, and no decimal separator is written if no fractional digits are present.
  • Explicit Decimal Separator - decimal separator always required: all significant digits are written to the output bit stream and the decimal separator is always included, even when no fractional digits are present. The decimal separator must be present in the input bit stream, even when no fractional digits are present.
Precision Button and Integer This property is applicable only if Physical Type is Text. It is used if the value of the Virtual Decimal Point property is 0, which indicates that the decimal point is present in the data. It deals with truncation, and specifies how many digits are to follow the decimal point.

Either specify a number of digits:

  • If you set Precision to 0, data is truncated so that the fractional part is lost. For example, the value 123.45 is truncated to 123.
  • If you set Precision to a number less than the number of fractional digits, data is truncated. For example, the value 123.4567 is truncated to 123.45 if you set Precision to 2.
  • If you set Precision to a number greater than the number of fractional digits, the value is padded with extra zeros. For example, the value 12.345 is padded to 12.34500 if you set Precision to 5.

Or select one option from the list:

  • All Significant Digits - decimal separator only required if fractional digits (the default): all significant digits are written to the output bit stream, and no decimal separator is written if no fractional digits are present.
  • Explicit Decimal Separator - decimal separator always required: all significant digits are written to the output bit stream and the decimal separator is always included, even when no fractional digits are present. The decimal separator must be present in the input bit stream, even when no fractional digits are present.
  • Exponential Notation - Example "1.23456e002": data is written out to the bit stream as a signed value having the format [sign1]a.bbbe[sign2]ccc where:
    • [sign1] is the value of Negative Sign if the value is negative
    • a is a single decimal digit
    • bbb is one or more decimal digits
    • [sign2] is the value of Negative Sign if the exponent is negative
    • ccc is exactly three decimal digits (the exponent)
    [sign1] and [sign2] are absent if the value and exponent are positive.

    For example, the value -123.456 is represented as -1.23456e002 and the value 0.00012 is represented as 1.2e-004 in the output bit stream, assuming that the value of Negative Sign is "-", and the value of Sign Orientation is Leading.

    The value -0.00012 is represented as 1.2*e*004 if Negative Sign is "*" and Sign Orientation is Trailing.


adtdsent.htm | Last updated 2015-09-24 12:52:36