GEFEG.FX 2021-Q3 Release: Your EDI team saves valuable troubleshooting time with better error messages – and other improvements

What is New in the Quarterly Release 2021-Q3?

New data packages in GEFEG.FX

• UN/EDIFACT D.21A
  • New version
• GS1 EANCOM® Implementation Guidelines
  • New: In coordination with GS1 Germany, the application recommendations in GEFEG.FX are now provided as a separate module.

Easily transform EDI to APIs? Reuse your data models in APIs now. Think model-First with GEFEG.FX

From now on, GEFEG.FX supports the development of APIs on the basis of OpenAPI 3.x. And the best thing is: you can reuse your data in APIs and use your existing messages.

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Clearer error messages and further improvements in message validation

For a business process to run smoothly, a message must be error-free – that is, compliant with company-specific EDI guidelines. For this reason, checking incoming or outgoing business messages for errors is a standard task for EDI teams. Our GEFEG.FX software supports EDI teams in this task, for example, by allowing messages to be validated in a test environment, by systematically checking test scenarios, or by providing error messages that clearly and unambiguously indicate the error. The following advancements support you even better in validation and testing.

Faster correction of errors through more understandable error messages!

The result of a validation in GEFEG.FX is an error log that outputs human-readable error messages in addition to technical meta information. Based on the error message, the user not only recognizes the position where an error occurred, but also immediately understands the deviation in content from the specification. In GEFEG.FX, the note “Check” is used for the error message as well as for the output of the error location. For example, a standard error description for the date format reads like this:
“The date format is incorrect. Specify “ram: DateTimeString” in the format CCYYMMDD.”

As of the current GEFEG.FX, you can describe error messages even more precisely. Build understandable identifiers into your “Check” note by embedding a link to any other note in the error message. If you describe a date field more precisely with a GEFEG.FX note, for example with the information “Delivery date” from the note “Definition”, the above error message would be output with the following text:
“The date information is incorrect. Specify the “delivery date” in the format CCYYMMDD. “

Thus, the error message is more understandable and the correction will be faster, since the user will immediately recognize the correct place in the message.

Document your test messages with one click!

Usually messages, and mostly also test messages of data formats of the classic EDI, for example ASC X12, EDIFACT, IDOC, Flatfile etc. are opened in a text editor.

As a GEFEG.FX user, you can also visualize your test messages using GEFEG.FX reports, in particular the GEFEG.FX Transaction Analyzer: Both experienced EDI experts and EDI beginners can use the crosscheck between the sample message and the standard to evaluate the contents of the message, interpret them more accurately and read off any errors.

From now on, you can also conveniently generate the GEFEG.FX Transaction Analyzer report from the reports directory of the test data folder and create the test message similar to the EDI segment report as documentation.

No XML file ready for testing? Create your XML test files from your GEFEG.FX schema!

Validation in the XML schema environment involves checking whether an XML file, often also called an XML instance, meets the specifications of a schema, i.e. is valid in the sense of the XML syntax. If the XML test file cannot be provided by the EDI partner or internal applications, GEFEG.FX can help with the following XML export: XML sample file.

This export generates an XML file based on the structure of the GEFEG.FX schema. If example values for elements and attributes have been specified in the GEFEG.FX schema, these are taken over and output as element and attribute values of the XML file.

This procedure has now been extended. From now on, you can also control the output of sample values for element and attribute variants. With variants you create slightly different versions of elements, for example buyer and seller for the party roles. Decide whether to output examples for all variants, i.e. buyer AND seller, or only for the first variant, i.e. buyer only. We recommend outputting the example values for all variants, so that there is as large a representation as possible of the possible elements in the XML file.

Would you like further explanations about variants in XML Schemas? Our support team will be pleased to assist you.

How do I recognize unused data elements and data element groups?

The EDI Guide Editor in GEFEG.FX lists the message structure as a data tree in the data area. Unused data elements and data element groups at the end of a segment are grayed out and therefore immediately visible. But how can I recognize unused data elements that are present in the middle of a segment? Until now, this was only recognizable via the GEFEG.FX note “Status”. An “N” or “X” marks the non-use of a data element or data element group.

With the current release you will find the following innovation: with the status assignment “N” or “X” a cross is shown at the data element or data element group, so that the non-use is made clear at first glance. Especially when revising an EDI Guide or in a mapping project, it is now possible to quickly determine whether a data element is used or not.

In the following example, the action code is not needed in the ORDERS Guide: The status is therefore set to “N”. The cross next to the data element tag 1229 visualizes the non-use.