The official XML format is somewhat sparse. There are a lack of XML tags with English descriptions because the format is designed to be language independent. In a situation where you are dealing with a single market, it can be more useful to have an XML format that is more descriptive. For this reason Chameleon also supports the Expanded XML Format.

The expanded XML format is similar to the official HL7 encoding and differs only slightly by the inclusion of field names in the tags, as well as the output of composites. This format is most useful when more contextual information needs to be embedded into the XML.

The expanded XML scheme/format performs a simple transformation of your entire message on a segment-by-segment basis, according to the segment definitions that exist in the Workspace. Note that it does not look at your segment grammar or the Ignore segments not in grammar option (set in the Message Grammar window).

To view an example, see Expanded XML Format Example.

	To properly parse Z-segments using the Expanded XML Scheme, the Z-segment definition only needs to exist within the Workspace, not the segment grammar of the applicable message definition. If you require XML that conforms to your segment grammar, there are two other XML formats that should be used: Standard Version 2 - This is the standard encoding scheme that is used for HL7 version 2. In the tag names, numbers are used to describe fields. Full Tree Validation - This is similar to the Expanded XML Format in that there are additional text descriptions in the tag names. In this case, however, it will also reference the segment grammar. If either of the above options are used, the Ignore segments not in grammar option will be used, as indicated in your segment grammar.