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Structure element properties

Generally when adding a new element, the properties associated with is are configured automatically and correctly, but you can edit them if needed.

General properties

Property Description
Name Name of the element. For XML structures, you can specify a namespace prefix using the following syntax: prefix:name.
Description Short description of the element. This description is displayed next to the element name in the editor.
Occurs Min/Max Minimum and maximum number of times the element can appear in a document. For example, you can enter 1 in the Min field to indicate an element is mandatory. If the number is unlimited, enter -1.
Size Min/Max Minimum and maximum number of characters in the element.
Group Type Indicates how the children of this element are grouped. The value can be:
  • None: this element contains text only; it has no child elements that define additional structure.
  • Sequence: all children must occur (if they occur) in the order specified.
  • Choice: only one of the children can occur. If the element loops, a different child element can occur for each instance of the loop.
  • All: all of the elements must occur, and they can occur in any order.
Data Type Type of text content for the element. The value can be:
  • String: character string.
  • Byte (8): signed 8-bit byte.
  • Character:
  • Short (16): signed 16-bit quantity.
  • Integer (32): signed 32-bit quantity.
  • Long (64): signed 64-bit quantity.
  • Unsigned Byte (8): unsigned 8-bit byte.
  • Unsigned Short (16): unsigned 16-bit quantity.
  • Unsigned Integer (32): unsigned 32-bit quantity.
  • Decimal:
  • Float (32): 32-bit floating-point number.
  • Double (64): 64-bit floating-point number.
  • Date/Time: date and time value together. This includes the timezone information.
  • Date: date value.
  • Time: time value.
  • Boolean: either true or false.
  • Duration: duration of time. This is in the ISO 8601 format of PnYnMnDTnHnMnS. It must begin with a P, and the remaining capital letters identify the type of the period. The capital letters can be omitted when the corresponding period is not used. Examples: P4Y is 4 years; P6Y7M2D is 6 years, 7 months, and 2 days; P30S is 30 seconds.
  • Binary: binary value.
  • QName: qualified name with an optional prefix and local name. The prefix must be found in one of the XML Namespaces and Containers associated with the structure. It is used only in the Constant function.
  • None:
Element Type Defines how this element is used in a document. This is mostly relevant for XML documents. The value can be:
  • Standard: element with no special treatment (e.g., a standard XML element). For XML documents, the value of the element refers to the value of all text included within the element, provided there are no child elements. When you want to access mixed content, you must use an element type of XML Text to access the text between the child XML elements.
  • XML Attribute (XML documents only): the element appears as an XML attribute. Child elements of this type must be of type value.
  • XML Processing Instruction (XML documents only): the element appears as an XML processing instruction. Elements of this type cannot have child elements.
  • XML Text (XML documents only): This element accesses text values, which is necessary only when accessing text values for mixed XML content, where text is interleaved with XML elements. Elements of this type cannot have child elements.
  • Value: this element's name is used to match the text value of its enclosing element. This is used to define possible code values for validation and mapping purposes. An element will have a child element with element type of Value for each possible code value. Elements of this type cannot have child elements.
  • Any: the content of this element can be any collection of elements, which are completely unspecified. Elements of this type cannot have child elements.
Data Format Describes how the data type is to be concretely manifested. The options available depend on the Data Type you selected. The Default option automatically selects the default format for the data type standard. For example, the default format for a DateTime element is ISO 8601.

In the output, the time format HHMMSSDD includes the offset if it is specified in the input. For example, the 01:02:03+01:00 input becomes 010203+01:00 in the output.
Visible Group Indicates if this element is visible in the document.
Null Indicates if this element can have a null value.

Flat structure properties

Property Description
Initiator Sequence of characters that signals the start of this element.
Terminator Sequence of characters that signals the end of this element.
Include Initiator? Indicates if the initiator should be included as part of the text value of the element.
Include Terminator? Indicates if the terminator should be included as part of the text value of the element.
Start Offset Number of characters to skip before starting this element.
Column Indicates the column where the element starts.
Quote Handling This provides pre-defined options for handling possible quotation marks around elements. The value can be:
  • None: no special handling for quotation marks.
  • OptionalQuotes: double quotation marks may be present or absent for this element. If they are present, they bound the element, and they are not included in the data. If they are absent, the element is bounded by the normal initiator or terminator.
  • RequiredQuotes: double quotation marks must be present for each element. If they are missing, an error occurs.
Release Defines the single character that causes an initiator or terminator not to be recognized. For example, if the terminator character is a double quote, and you specify a backslash as the release character, you can include a double quote within the value of the element by preceding it with a backslash.
EDI Elem Type Defines the type of EDI element represented by this element. The value can be:
  • None: this is not an EDI element.
  • Transaction: the root element of a transaction. This defines the transaction. The name of this element is the name of the EDI transaction, 832 or PRICAT for example.
  • Segment: defines an EDI segment. The name of this element is the segment and must be less than or equal to three characters, DTM for example.
  • Element: defines an EDI element. The name of this element is the name of the enclosing segment and is followed by the two digit sequence number of the segment, DTM02 for example.
  • Composite: defines an EDI composite. If the parent of the composite is an EDI segment, the name of the composite follows the same convention as that for an EDI element. If the parent of the composite is an EDI element, the name of the composite is the name of the element followed by a hyphen and a two digit sequence number, SEG05-01 for example.
  • Loop: defines an EDI loop. The name of this element must start with Loop-.
  • Code Value Part: used when a code value has two parts to it. One element defines each of the parts of the code value.
EDI Elem Ref Defines the EDI data element reference number.

Inheritance properties

Property Description
Inherits From Specifies the structure from which this element inherits.
Inherited Root Specifies how to reconcile the root element from the parent structure with this element. The value can be:
  • Use Only Children: only the properties from the child elements are included in the child structure under this element. The properties of the root element of the parent (inherited) structure are ignored.
  • Use Everything: the element properties of the current element are ignored, and all of its properties are inherited from the root element of the parent (inherited) structure.
  • Use All Except Name/Occurs: all properties of the root element of the parent (inherited) structure are inherited, except for the name, description, and occurs properties. These properties are defined by this element in the child structure. This corresponds to the type of inheritance defined in XML Schema by a particle.
Ignore Inherited Adds? Indicates if new elements added in the parent structure should be propagated to this element.
Use Children Of For recursive elements, this property allows you to use the same content as the parent element.

EDI properties

Property Description
Syntax Rules For EDI elements, this property defines the valid combinations of required elements for that segment
Sequence Id For EDI elements, this property defines the sequence number of this element, in the nn format.

Other properties

Property Description
XPath Name Allows you to define the XPath corresponding to entries of this element. You can use the following expressions:
  • A node name, item/price for example.
  • A node name with a predicate defining the value of a child, item[price>1] for example.
  • A node name with a predicate defining the value of an attribute, item[@status='available'].
  • A node name with a predicate using a function, item[fn:position()>3] for example.
  • An axis, child::* for example.

If the structure has namespaces, they need to be added as a prefix for each element.

If you are using this property with a representation other than XML, you need to prefix each element with the name of the representation, JSON:item/JSON:price.

For more information about how to use this property, see Mapping an XML structure with dynamic elements and Filtering structure elements.
Text Allows you to document the element. You can select a type of text in the drop-down list and enter your text in the field below.
External name Allows the processing of element names that include characters not supported in the element name, such as spaces or $.

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