Generating a sequence number in an Xlate

[Joe Guerra]

I’m trying to add a counter that will increment by 1 for each record that is processed from the inbound file. The outbound file requires a unique number for each record, and I cannot figure out how to do this in the Xlate.  Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Topic

[Jim Kosloskey]

Joe,

Are you talking about MSH-10 the Control ID or the sequence number field?

I know with the Control ID some systems require the ID to never repeat in other cases they do not care as long as there is some large number before it repeats.

If repetition is not an issue, you can use Tcl to exploit a Counter File which will keep incrementing until it reaches the limit you set.

If it is the sequence number, then there are potential issues with whether the number needs to different (or not) if a message is resent also whether there can be ‘gaps’ in the number (such as a message getting killed on the outbound TPS then the sequence # might skip one or more numbers).

Just some things to think about.

Jim Kosloskey

email: jim.kosloskey@jim-kosloskey.com 29+ years Cloverleaf, 59 years IT - old fart.

[Rentian Huang]

Also I guess, HL7 or FRL?

[Joe Guerra]

Thanks Jim.  This is an FRL from the host system that i’m putting into a VRL comma delimited for the receiving system.  The receiving system just needs a unique number (counter incrementing by 1 would be perfect) in one of the fields.

[Rentian Huang]

Joe,

I think you can use the COUNTER mechanism to create a ctr file, and keep your counter there. Then in the IB Data TPS, use a Tcl to call CtrNextValue and assign it to the field.

Sam

[Joe Guerra]

Thanks all.  I did write a proc with the COUNTER function, and calling it from the xlate.  It works great.

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