In Iguana, you can use a VMD file to process any random text and turn it into a series of repeating segments. One common use of this capability is when you want to generate ORU^R01 (patient observation message) records from arbitrary text contained in a database.

For example, suppose that you have a database entry consisting of the following information:

The ObservationValue field of this database entry is a multi-sentence observation, with the ~ (tilde) character indicating the end of a sentence or of a portion of a sentence. You can use Iguana to convert this database entry into an ORU^R01 message, with each sentence in the ObservationValue field defined as a separate OBX segment in the message:

MSH|^~\&|||||||ORU^R01|
OBX|1|TX|12345|| ||||||F|
OBX|2|TX|12345||Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent||||||F
OBX|3|TX|12345||a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition||||||F
OBX|4|TX|12345||that all men are created equal.||||||F
OBX|5|TX|12345||Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,||||||F
OBX|6|TX|12345||or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.||||||F
OBX|7|TX|12345||We are met on a great battle-field of that war.||||||F
OBX|8|TX|12345||We have come to dedicate a portion of that field,||||||F
OBX|9|TX|12345|| as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.||||||F
OBX|10|TX|12345||It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.||||||F

To do this, you will need to do the following:

• Use Chameleon to create the VMD file;
• In the VMD file, create Python scripts to process the data and generate the message;
• Create an Iguana channel to read from the database and send the generated message to its destination;
• Test the channel by sending a test message.

The following sections describe these steps.