August 2009 Highlight

One of MEL's undergraduate summer students, Matt Molek, developed a tool for EDI to XML translation, which focused on the software which translates the implementation guidelines into XML and other formats.  Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a hardware independent exchange specification for computer to computer communication, which eliminates the need for many paper business documents, and greatly increases the speed and accuracy of business communication. EDI is widely used by businesses in the US and abroad to replace paper purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, and other common documents.

The tool which incorporates Molek's work is for interpreting and manipulating EDI implementation guidelines as XML-based data. The tool translates the EDI implementation guidelines into XML Schema and then assists an end user in developing constraints on the data which are specific to the particular implementation guidelines. These constraints specify customization of the EDI message. EDI messages for that implementation can then be checked against the developed constraints. Molek presented the details of his work before departing NIST for fall semester.