IATA PADIS Connector - CData Arc Documentation

International Air Transport Association (IATA) Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards (PADIS) connectors support generating PADIS documents from XML and converting PADIS documents into XML.

Key Capabilities

IATA PADIS support with bidirectional IATA PADIS/XML translation
Automatic EDIFACT-subset schema detection and validation for aviation industry messaging
CONTRL acknowledgment generation/processing with interchange header management for routing

Overview

When receiving PADIS documents, IATA PADIS connectors validate document interchange headers and convert the PADIS document into XML. This is useful as a staging step, because XML is the primary format that Arc uses to manipulate data in a flow. The IATA PADIS connector automatically reads the input file to determine the appropriate PADIS schema, then parses the document according to this schema. IATA PADIS is a subset of the EDIFACT standard, so many of the features and functionality of the IATA PADIS connector are shared with the more general EDIFACT connector. When generating PADIS documents, IATA PADIS connectors convert XML into PADIS document syntax and apply the appropriate interchange headers. This is useful as the final step for creating a PADIS document, after the XML data has been fetched and transformed elsewhere in the flow.

Interchange header validation can be avoided by enabling the Test Indicator setting.

An IATA PADIS connector can also automatically generate acknowledgments to incoming PADIS documents. For more information, see IATA PADIS Acknowledgments.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Translation Configuration

Settings related to the core operation of the connector.

Setting	Description
Connector Id	The static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector Type	Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector Description	An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
Translation Type	Whether the connector should convert PADIS documents into XML, or generate PADIS documents from XML.
Dynamically process partners	When enabled, the connector automatically identifies and tracks trading partner relationships from EDI transactions. When disabled, you must manually define the partner relationship. See EDI Partners Tab for more information.

EDI Partner

Setting	Description
Partner Identifier (UNB2.1)	The unique Id identifying the sending party in the PADIS communication. When you are generating a PADIS document, this should be your identifier. Only applicable when Dynamically process partners is unchecked.
Recipient Identifier (UNB3.1)	The unique Id identifying the receiving party in the PADIS communication. When you are generating a PADIS document, this should be your trading partner’s identifier. Only applicable when Dynamically process partners is unchecked.

Interchange Settings

Settings related to the IATA PADIS interchange headers. When generating PADIS documents from XML, these settings are used to generate document headers. When parsing PADIS documents, these settings are used to validate the incoming document.

Setting	Description
Syntax Identifier (UNB1.1)	Identifies the character set used in the PADIS document.
Syntax Version (UNB1.2)	In combination with the Syntax Identifier, determines the syntax to be used in the PADIS document. Based on your selection here, other interchange setting options appear or disappear on the Advanced tab.
Partner Code Qualifier (UNB2.2)	The qualifier for the Partner Identifier, which provides context to the value (for example, an EAN location number).
Personal Code Qualifier (UNB3.2)	The qualifier for the Personal Identifier, which provides context to the value (for example, an EAN location number).
Test Indicator (UNB11)	Whether the interchange is in test mode or production mode. If you check this, interchange headers are not validated when documents are received.
Functional Group	Check this to automatically add the sender and recipient identifiers to the Functional Group Settings on the Advanced tab.

Acknowledgments

Settings related to generating and requesting acknowledgments.

Setting	Description
Technical acknowledgment (CONTRL)	Whether a technical CONTRL ACK should be returned (when receiving) and requested (when sending). A technical acknowledgment serves as a receipt of the interchange.
Functional acknowledgment (CONTRL)	Whether a functional CONTRL ACK should be returned (when receiving) and requested (when sending). A functional acknowledgment serves as an indication of acceptance or rejection of the received interchange.

Sample Files Tab

Advanced Tab

EDI Delimiters

Settings that specify which characters separate elements, segments, etc.

Setting	Description
Data Element Separator	The character that separates individual data elements in the document.
Component Element Separator	The character that separates elements within a composite data structure in the document.
Segment Terminator	The character that indicates the end of a segment in the document.
Release Char	The character that releases (escapes) the next character, overriding its usual meaning. This allows reserved characters to appear as data within documents, as long as they are preceded by the Release Char.
Repetition Char	The character that indicates repetition of element values.
Suffix	Appended to the Segment Terminator to distinguish segments.

Interchange Settings

Additional settings related to the IATA PADIS interchange headers. These options appear or disappear based on the Syntax Version specified on the Settings tab.

Setting	Description
Service Code List Directory Version Number (UNB1.3)	Further specifies the syntax to be used in the PADIS document. Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Character Encoding (UNB1.4)	Specifies how characters are encoded (such as ASCII or UTF-8). Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Address for Reverse Routing (UNB2.3)	The optional address in the sender’s system to which responding interchanges should be sent. Only applicable for PADIS syntax versions prior to version 4.
Partner Internal Identification (UNB2.3)	An additional sender identifier to facilitate internal routing of response interchanges. Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Partner Internal Sub-Identification (UNB2.4)	Further identifies the sender when sub-level identification is required. Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Routing Address (UNB3.3)	The optional address in the recipient’s system to which interchanges should be routed. Only applicable for PADIS syntax versions prior to version 4.
Personal Internal Identification (UNB3.3)	An additional recipient identifier to facilitate internal routing of received interchanges. Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Personal Internal Sub-Identification (UNB3.4)	Further identifies the recipient, for when sub-level identification is required. Only applicable for PADIS syntax version 4.
Partner Password (UNB6.1)	Reference or password to gain access to the recipient’s system.
Partner Password Qualifier (UNB6.2)	The qualifier that provides context to the Partner Password, if applicable.
Application Reference ID (UNB7)	Identifies the application group to which the messages in the interchange relate.
Processing Priority Code (UNB8)	Code for requesting processing priority for the interchange.
Communication Agreement (UNB10)	Defines the type of communication agreement controlling the interchange.

Functional Group Settings

Settings related to the functional group headers of PADIS documents. These optional identifiers can help group similar interchanges together or facilitate sub-addressing within an organization.

Setting	Description
Application Partner Identifier (UNG2.1)	Identifies the application sending the document (such as a division, branch, or computer system).
Application Personal Identifier (UNG2.1)	Identifies the application for which the document is intended.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Setting	Description
Batch Transactions	An interchange can contain multiple transactions. When this is not checked, the connector creates a separate output file for each transaction in the interchange. When checked, the connector groups all transactions into a single output file. Only applicable when the Translation Type is IATA to XML.
Encoding	Specifies the character encoding (such as ASCII or UTF-8).
Expand Qualifier Values	When checked, XML elements containing an EDI qualifier include child elements containing the qualifier code and value. For example: `<N101>` `<Code>ST</Code>` `<Value>Ship To</Value>` `</N101>`
Functional Acks	By default, all functional acknowledgments (997, 999) are routed to the connector selected in the flow diagram, and XML translations are not received in the Transactions tab. Check this to have the translated acknowledgment also be included in the Transactions tab. This allows functional acknowledgments to be integrated into a destination source in addition to new PADIS documents.
Generate Description As	When translating PADIS into XML, descriptions of the PADIS segments and elements can be provided as context for the PADIS data. Use this dropdown to choose whether to add this context as an XML comment or as XML attributes.
Local File Scheme	A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.
Nest Loops	When checked, the connector detects PADIS structures that have hierarchical relationships embedded in the PADIS data, and generates XML with these hierarchical relationships represented as parent-child relationships.
Processing Delay	The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Transactions tab is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.
Strict Schema Validation	Whether the connector should Ignore, Warn, or Fail when the following are detected: repeat counts above the allowed number, missing required elements or segments, invalid qualifier and code values, disallowed element lengths, and invalid element values. Choosing Disable turns off the schema validation checks.
Track UNB2.1	Whether to add UNB2.1 values as tracked headers to processed messages.
Track UNB3.1	Whether to add UNB3.1 values as tracked headers to processed messages.
Track Transaction Types	Whether to add transaction types as tracked headers to processed messages.
Validate Identifiers	Check this to ensure that the identifiers in the translated document match the identifiers in the connector’s configuration.
Duplicate File Action	How the connector should behave when it receives a message with a control number that the connector has seen before (a duplicate). When set to `Ignore`, the connector silently skips the duplicate and continues processing. When set to `Warn`, the connector processes the file but returns a warning. When set to `Fail`, the connector does not accept the file and returns an error.
Upload Schema	Use this to upload a schema and install it in the connector’s Schema folder. If a schema already exists, you are asked if you want to overwrite it.
Reset State	EDI connectors keep track of control numbers that have been used and increment that number to ensure that future runs do not duplicate data. Use this button to reset the counter to its initial state without changing any of the configured settings.

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing.

Note: The settings below are deprecated and hidden by default. They appear only on connectors where they were previously enabled or configured to a non-default value. To retain copies of successfully processed files, right-click the connector in the flow, choose Show Success Path, and connect the success path to a File connector.

Setting	Description
Save to Sent Folder (Deprecated)	Copies files processed by the connector to the Sent folder. Disabled by default. Files saved to the Sent folder are not covered by Encryption at Rest.
Sent Folder Scheme (Deprecated)	Groups files in the Sent folder by the selected time interval. Only relevant when Save to Sent Folder is enabled.

Logging

Settings that govern the creation and storage of logs.

Setting	Description
Log Level	The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
Log Subfolder Scheme	Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. The Weekly option (which is the default) instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. Leaving this setting blank tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
Log Messages	Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Transactions tab.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Setting	Description
Other Settings	Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, `setting1=value1;setting2=value2`). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

EDI Partners Tab

Automation Tab

Automation

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

Setting	Description
Send	A toggle that instructs the connector to automatically send files when they are ready.
Resend Interval	The interval the connector waits before resending a file that received a negative ACK. For example, if a trading partner receives the file but something is wrong with it and they send back a negative ACK, this setting specifies how long to wait before sending the file again.
Max Attempts (async)	The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file when a functional ACK is requested. Success is based on the return of a functional ACK within the Resend Interval. If a successful functional ACK is not returned, the connector resends the file until Max Attempts is reached. If this is set to 0, the connector resends the file indefinitely.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

Setting	Description
Max Workers	The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.
Max Files	The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Converting Formats

The following sections detail the process of converting PADIS documents to XML and vice versa.

PADIS to XML

Setting the Translation Type to IATA to XML instructs the connector to parse incoming PADIS documents into XML. The connector first reads all of the header information for the Interchange and Functional Group sections of the document and validates them against the configured connector settings (unless Test Indicator is enabled). The connector then parses out the specific PADIS schema used in the document and loads the schema from the edifact_schemas folder on disk (additional schema files can be downloaded from our website for free). Using the schema, the connector generates XML representing the structure of the document, populates the XML with the values from the document, and provides context to each value either as XML comments or as attributes in the XML elements (based on the value of Generate Descriptions As). To see this process with a set of test PADIS documents, navigate to the Transactions tab of an IATA PADIS connector (with Translation Type set to IATA to XML) and select More > Create Test Files. PADIS documents for an invoice, purchase order, purchase order acknowledgment, and shipping notice are automatically generated and placed in the Transactions directory. After these test files are processed by the connector, navigate to the Transactions tab to see the resulting XML. Once PADIS documents are converted to XML, the data can be transformed and manipulated in many ways. Commonly, PADIS data needs to be stored in a database or other back-end application system. Since Arc uses XML to represent inserts into these back-end systems, storing the PADIS data becomes a matter of mapping one XML structure onto another. This is typically done with the visual designer-driven XML Map Connector.

XML to PADIS

Setting the Translation Type to XML to IATA instructs the connector to generate a PADIS document out of an XML representation of the document. After the connector has constructed the PADIS message out of the data parsed from the XML, it adds functional group and interchange headers according to the configured connector settings. To see this process with a set of test XML files, navigate to the Transactions tab of an IATA PADIS connector (with Translation Type set to XML to IATA) and select More > Create Test Files. XML files representing an invoice, purchase order, purchase order acknowledgment, and shipping notice are automatically generated and placed in the Transactions directory. After these test files are processed by the connector, navigate to the Transactions tab to see the resulting PADIS document.

Use With the XML Map Connector

Upload Test File

IATA PADIS Acknowledgments

The following sections detail the two types of IATA PADIS acknowledgments (ACKs), and how Arc expects, processes, and generates ACKs.

Technical versus Functional Acknowledgments

Technical ACKs, sometimes called interchange ACKs, are an indication that an interchange has taken place between the two parties, although not necessarily that any individual message has been exchanged. These serve as a receipt to the sender indicating that the PADIS message was successfully received, but it does not specify whether there were any issues with processing the message content. Functional ACKs are an indication that an interchange has been processed by the receiving party. They can report acceptance, acceptance with issues, or rejection of the received document. These serve as both a receipt that an interchange was successfully received and that it was fully processed.

Expecting, Processing, and Generating Acknowledgments

Expecting Acknowledgements

IATA PADIS connectors operating in XML to IATA mode can be configured so that technical and/or functional ACKs are expected for a message. When one or both Technical acknowledgment (CONTRL) and Functional acknowledgment (CONTRL) are checked in the Acknowledgments section of the Settings tab, the connector maintains a Pending ACK status for a transmission until the appropriate ACKs have been returned and processed. This means that the connector status can be used to determine whether the recipient has confirmed that they received the interchange. See the EDIFACT connector for a detailed description of this feature. The IATA PADIS connector works the same way.

When EDI messages that require an acknowledgement have not received that acknowledgement, a Pending-Timeout header is added to the message. The message has a Pending status while it waits for its ACK. If it does not receive the ACK within the allotted time, the Pending-Timeout header is populated with the date and time when the message status changed to Error. When the ACK is received and the message is updated to Success, a new header is added with an empty string value.

Processing Acknowledgments

In a typical flow, PADIS ACKs arrive at an IATA PADIS connector operating in IATA to XML mode. This IATA PADIS connector can be configured to automatically route any received acknowledgments to the IATA PADIS connector that originally generated the document being acknowledged. Routing ACKs between IATA PADIS connectors is configured visually on the Flows canvas by dragging the gray dot at the bottom of the IATA PADIS connector in IATA to XML mode onto the IATA PADIS connector that is in XML to IATA mode. Once the connector in XML to IATA mode receives the routed ACK, it pairs the ACK to the original message and changes its state from Pending ACK to Sent.

Generating Acknowledgements

When an IATA PADIS connector in IATA to XML mode receives a message and generates the corresponding XML, it can automatically generate CONTRL acknowledgments for the received message. To accomplish this, check Technical acknowledgment (CONTRL) and/or Functional acknowledgment (CONTRL) in the Acknowledgments section of the Settings tab. These acknowledgments must be routed to another IATA PADIS connector (in XML to IATA mode) to finalize the ACK. The connector to which the ACK is routed applies interchange headings and passes the ACK along to the next connector in the flow like any other IATA PADIS message. To route the ACK appropriately, drag the gray dot at the bottom of the IATA PADIS connector in IATA to XML mode onto the IATA PADIS connector that is in XML to IATA mode. See the Generating Acknowledgement for a detailed description of this feature in the EDIFACT connector. The IATA PADIS connector works the same way.

​Key Capabilities

​Overview

​Connector Configuration

​Settings Tab

​Translation Configuration

​EDI Partner

​Interchange Settings

​Acknowledgments

​Sample Files Tab

​Advanced Tab

​EDI Delimiters

​Interchange Settings

​Functional Group Settings

​Advanced Settings

​Message

​Logging

​Miscellaneous

​EDI Partners Tab

​Automation Tab

​Automation

​Performance

​Alerts Tab

​SLAs Tab

​Converting Formats

​PADIS to XML

​XML to PADIS

​Use With the XML Map Connector

​Upload Test File

​IATA PADIS Acknowledgments

​Technical versus Functional Acknowledgments

​Expecting, Processing, and Generating Acknowledgments

​Expecting Acknowledgements

​Processing Acknowledgments

​Generating Acknowledgements

​Macros

​Examples

Key Capabilities

Overview

Connector Configuration

Settings Tab

Translation Configuration

EDI Partner

Interchange Settings

Acknowledgments

Sample Files Tab

Advanced Tab

EDI Delimiters

Interchange Settings

Functional Group Settings

Advanced Settings

Message

Logging

Miscellaneous

EDI Partners Tab

Automation Tab

Automation

Performance

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Converting Formats

PADIS to XML

XML to PADIS

Use With the XML Map Connector

Upload Test File

IATA PADIS Acknowledgments

Technical versus Functional Acknowledgments

Expecting, Processing, and Generating Acknowledgments

Expecting Acknowledgements

Processing Acknowledgments

Generating Acknowledgements

Macros

Examples