ediCommentType

The ediCommentType interface represents a single comment type, which defines a text included in an EDI document that will be ignored by Framework EDI (FREDI). Multiple comment types can be defined. But ideally, no comment types should be defined and no comments should be included in the document because they are not part of the ASC/X12 and UN/EDIFACT standard. If comments must exist, they should have the following properties to be defined properly:

1. The comment must be separated from normal EDI data using delimiters that are not already used by the document. FREDI expects the comments to have a delimiter preceding the comment and another delimiter following the same comment.
2. The comment must follow the segment terminator of the previous segment and end before the segment ID of the next segment. That is, a comment cannot be placed anywhere within the data segment string.

For example, a sample UN/EDIFACT text with a comment that looks like the following can be safely processed by FREDI:

RFF+CR:1'
NAD+SE+10025392::92++SUPPLIER NAME'
$$This is a comment that is ignored@@
CTA+SR+:STEVE'

• "$$" is the delimiter that begins the comment and "@@" ends the comment.
• "+" is the data element separator.
• "'" (apostrophe) is the data segment terminator.
• In this example, for the purpose of readability, the line feed is applied but not part of the document.

The following text cannot be properly read because the comment occurs within the data segment NAD string:

RFF+CR:1'
NAD+SE+10025392::92+$$ This is an invalid comment location@@+SUPPLIER NAME'
CTA+SR+:STEVE'

Properties

• Description - Sets or gets the description of the comment type.
• EndString - Set or gets the string that ends a comment.
• StartString - Sets or gets a string that begins a comment.