Environment Variable Functions |
The functions defined for this object are listed in the table below:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| input_segment_iterator() |
Returns an iterator object that can be used to iterate over the segments in an incoming HL7 message. For more information on this function, see Iterating Over Message Segments. |
| count_of_generated_segment() | Returns the number of segments in the current HL7 message being generated. |
| get_default_database() |
Connects to and returns the default database object. If you use this function from within Iguana, the connection is inside a transaction envelope: any database actions performed by your Python scripts can be safely rolled back. For more information on how to use this function, see Working With the Default Database. |
| get_database(DatabaseType, DatabaseName, UserName, Password) |
Connects to and returns a database object. Note that this connection is not inside a transaction envelope: actions performed by your Python scripts cannot be rolled back. For more information on how to use this function, see Working With Any Database. |
| date_time_to_double(String, Format) |
Converts a date from a string to floating point (double precision). For more information on how to use this function, see Converting a Date from String to Double. |
| double_to_date_time(DoubleDate, Format) |
Converts a date from floating point (double precision) to a string. For more information on how to use this function, see Converting a Date from Double to String. |
| format_date_time(DoubleDate, FormatString) |
Converts a date from floating point (double precision) to a formatted string. For more information on how to use this function, see Converting a Date from Double to String. |
| input_identity() | Returns the name of the message definition that is processing this message. This function cannot be used in Global Inbound Scripts. |
| delimiter_char(index) | Returns the delimiter character whose level is specified by index.
The first-level delimiter character has an index of 0, the second-level delimiter character has an index of 1, and so on.
The delimiter character returned is as specified in Chameleon's Options window. See below for details. |
| set_delimiter_char(index, char) | Sets the delimiter character whose level is specified by index to the character specified by char. See below for details. |
| get_table(table, group) | Retrieves the table definition whose name is specified by table. group is optional; if it is specified, it is the name of the table group in which the table is defined. get_table() can be used in the Global Inbound Post Process Script and the Global Inbound Parse-complete Script. get_table() returns a Table Object containing the rows of the specified table. For details on how to use get_table(), and on how to add rows to a table or delete rows from a table, see Retrieving a Table and Adding or Deleting Rows. |
The delimiter character returned by delimiter_char() depends on the message delimiter characters that are defined for the VMD file. To view these message delimiter characters, click Options in the Chameleon Toolbar. In the Options window that appears, click the Message Delimiters tab:
The table at the bottom left lists the message delimiter characters that have been defined for this VMD file. Each row of the table specifies a delimiter level, and the Character column specifies the delimiter character that has been specified for that level.
For HL7 messages, as shown above, the level 1 delimiter indicates the end of one segment and the start of another. The delimiter character for level 1 is 0x0D (carriage return). In this case, calling delimiter_char(0) returns the carriage return character.
In HL7 messages, the level 2 character is the field delimiter character. By default, this is |. Calling delimiter_char(1) returns this delimiter character. Similarly, the level 3 and level 4 characters, ^ and &, delimit subfields and sub-subfields. These can be retrieved by calling delimiter_char(2) and delimiter_char(3).
For other types of messages, the various levels of message delimiter may have a different purpose and may be different characters. However, for all message types, delimiter_char(x) returns the delimiter for level x plus 1.
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The table containing the message delimiters is editable only if you have specified Custom in the Configuration list box. | ||
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The set_delimiter_char(x, value) function sets the delimiter for level x plus 1 to value. For example, the function call set_delimiter_char(1,"#") sets the Level 2 delimiter to #.
set_delimiter_char() is useful when processing messages in X12 format, as the X12 standard specifies that the delimiters for an incoming X12 message are to be found at specific locations in the incoming message. The following Global Inbound Script sets the delimiter characters for an incoming X12 message:
environment.set_delimiter_char(0, str(value[105:106])) environment.set_delimiter_char(1, str(value[3:4])) environment.set_delimiter_char(2, str(value[104:105])) |
This code indicates that the segment terminator (the level 1 delimiter) is to be found at byte 106 of the incoming message, which is stored in the value variable. (Recall that, in Python, character strings are indexed from 0, so byte 106 is at index 105.) Similarly, the data element separator (the level 2 delimiter) is found at byte 4 of the message, and the component element separator (the level 3 delimiter) is at byte 105. Since each incoming X12 message may define its own set of delimiter characters, this Global Inbound Script ensures that every message is processed properly.
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The Python example shown above uses Python's string slice capability to extract delimiter characters from the incoming message (which is stored in the value variable). For an explanation of string slices, see String Indexing and Slices. | ||
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