EDI is one of the illustrations of the maxim "the nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from." Well, almost. There are not that many to choose from. The most popular, ANSI X12 and EDIFACT, were developed by multi-industry committees and it shows it. The standards allow so many options that they might as well not be a standard. But it's kept food on my table since 1991.
Because very frequently trading partners supply each other with written specifications, I have often thought an automated method to read those files (maybe based on a grammar) would help with developing a practical system to validate a particular document for a particular trading partner, without having to put together the full standard for the hundred of document types, each composed of some subset of thousands of segment types, each of which is composed of a subset of thousands of element types. Because even if the standard says, for instance, a G62 segment is required in a 204 document, a particular trading partner can say it isn't required for them, and the same personalization can happen at the element level. Ranting aside, I should actually try this sometime. The potential time savings could be significant.
You want to hear something funny? Some people think XML would be preferable.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NASB)
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