Data element separation defines
how a TDS message is to be parsed.
Data element separation defines which method of identifying data
elements is to be used and how the data elements are constructed.
The different methods vary from full flexibility to fixed format,
depending on how they are defined.
The four main types of data element separation are:
- Fixed length types
- Fixed length types are dependent on each element having a length.
See TDS format: Fixed length separation types.
- Tagged separation types
- Tagged separation types are dependent on each element having tag
prefix to identify it. See TDS format: Tagged separation types.
- Delimited separation types
- Delimited separation types use delimiters to identify the end
of one data elements and the beginning of the next. See TDS format: Delimited separation types.
- Data pattern types
- Data pattern types use a regular expression to identify each element.
See TDS format: Data pattern separation types.
There is a fifth category, which is different from the four described
above:
- Undefined separation types
- Undefined separation types contain no data elements. They are
applicable to embedded messages only, and should not be used
for anything else. They use none of the TDS type-specific parameters
other than Data Element Separation.
See Multipart messages.