Key Capabilities
- German automotive EDI standard support with bidirectional VDA/XML translation
- Automatic schema detection and validation with interchange header generation
- Support for VDA-specific segment structures, nested loops, and qualifier expansion
Overview
When receiving VDA documents, VDA connectors validate interchange headers and convert the VDA document into XML. This is useful as a staging step, because XML is the primary format that uses to manipulate data in a flow. The VDA connector automatically reads the input file to determine the appropriate schema, then parses the document according to this schema. When generating VDA documents, VDA connectors convert XML into VDA document syntax and apply the appropriate interchange headers. This is useful as the final step for creating a VDA document, after the XML data has been fetched and transformed elsewhere in the flow.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 VDA documents into XML, or generate VDA documents from XML. |
Header Settings
Settings related to the VDA interchange headers. When converting documents into XML, the document headers are validated against these settings; when generating documents from XML, these settings are used to generate document headers.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Sender Identifier | The unique Id identifying the sending party in the VDA communication (when generating a VDA document, this should be your identifier). |
| Receiver Identifier | The unique Id identifying the receiving party in the VDA communication (when generating a VDA document, this should be your partner’s identifier). |
Sample Files Tab
Advanced Tab
EDI Delimiters
Settings that specify which characters separate elements, segments, and so on.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Suffix | Appears at the end of segments to distinguish them from each other. |
Advanced Settings
Settings not included in the previous categories.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Batch Transactions | An exchange can contain multiple transactions. When this is not checked, the connector creates a separate output file for each transaction in the exchange. When checked, the connector groups all transactions into a single output file. Only applicable when the Translation Type is VDA to XML. |
| Encoding | Specifies the character encoding (such as ASCII or UTF-8). |
| Expand Qualifier Values | When checked, XML elements containing a VDA 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 EDI documents. |
| Generate Description As | When translating VDA into XML, descriptions of the VDA segments and elements can be provided as context for the VDA 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 VDA structures that have hierarchical relationships embedded in the VDA 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. |
| 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
Logging
Miscellaneous
Automation Tab
Automation Settings
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. |