Electronic Data Interchange
The Functional Group Header (ASC/X12)

The Functional Group Header is the starting control segment of the functional group envelope.  The functional group header contains:

• the sender and receiver information,
• date and time group was prepared, and
• standard version of group structure and underlying transaction sets.

This topic covers:

• Functional Group Header in a Document
• Programmatically Reading the Functional Group Header
• Programmatically Generating the Functional Group Header

Functional Group Header in a Document

In the document, the group header is identified with the first letters "GS" followed by the element separator.

The group header data stream fit into the implementation guideline defined for the group header as follows:

REF	ELE	NAME	REQ	TYPE	MIN/MAX	VALUE	COMMENT
01	479	Functional Identifier Code	M	ID	2/2	IN	Functional identifier code.  All transaction sets enveloped by the functional group must be categorized under the same identifier code.
02	142	Application Sender's Code	M	AN	2/15	SENDERDEPT	This value identifies the sender of the group.
03	124	Application Receiver's Code	M	AN	2/15	RECEIVERDEPT	This value identifies the receiver of the group.
04	373	Date	M	DT	8/8	20090419	Date the group was prepared.
05	337	Time	M	TM	4/8	1548	Time the group was prepared
06	28	Group Control Number	M	N0	1/9	1	This control number is unique to the functional group within the interchange.
07	455	Responsible Agency Code	M	ID	1/2	X	Controlling agency is ASC/X12.
08	480	Version / Release / Industry Identifier Code	M	AN	1/12	005030VICS	This value indicates the implementation version that applies to the functional group structure and underlying transaction sets.  The value is subdivided as follows: 1 - 3 is the version which is "005", 4 - 6 is the release and subrelease which is "030", and 7 - 12 is the industry or trade association which is "VICS".

Programmatically Reading the Functional Group Header

The following steps demonstrates how to read the group header.

• Create an instance of ediDocument .

  Dim oEdiDoc As Fredi.ediDocument

  Set oEdiDoc = New Fredi.ediDocument
  

• Load the schema.

  Dim oSchemas As Fredi.ediSchemas
  Dim oSchema As Fredi.ediSchema
  
  ' Disable standard reference library.
  Set oSchemas = oEdiDoc.GetSchemas
  oSchemas.EnableStandardReference = False
  
  Set oSchema = oEdiDoc.LoadSchema(App.Path & "\SampleAscX12_850.SEF", Schema_Standard_Exchange_Format)

• Load the document.

  ' Load EDI document normally.
  oEdiDoc.LoadEdi App.Path & "\SampleEdiX12_850.X12"

• Get the first interchange containing the group.

  Dim oInterchange As Fredi.ediInterchange
  
  ' Get first interchange.
  Set oInterchange = oEdiDoc.FirstInterchange

• Get the first group in the interchange.

  Dim oGroup As Fredi.ediInterchange
  
  ' Get first group.
  Set oGroup = oInterchange.FirstGroup
  
  

• Get the group header and then read the elements.

  ' Get group header.
  Dim oHeader As Fredi.ediDataSegment
  Dim oElements As Fredi.ediDataElements
  Dim oElement As Fredi.ediDataElement
  Dim sResult As String
  Dim i As Integer
  
  Set oHeader = oGroup.GetDataSegmentHeader
  
  ' Get elements collection.
  Set oElements = oHeader.DataElements
  
  sResult = ""
  
  For Each oElement In oElements
  

  sResult = sResult & oElement.ID & " = " & oElement.Value & vbCrLf
  

  
  Next
  

Programmatically Generating the Functional Group Header

The following steps demonstrates how to generate the group header.

• Create an instance of ediDocument.

  Dim oEdiDoc As Fredi.ediDocument

  Set oEdiDoc = New Fredi.ediDocument
  

• Load the schema.

  Dim oSchemas As Fredi.ediSchemas
  Dim oSchema As Fredi.ediSchema
  
  ' Disable standard reference library.
  Set oSchemas = oEdiDoc.GetSchemas
  oSchemas.EnableStandardReference = False
  
  Set oSchema = oEdiDoc.LoadSchema(App.Path & "\SampleAscX12_850.SEF", Schema_Standard_Exchange_Format)

• Specify the terminators.

  ' Specify the terminators to use on the document.
  oEdiDoc.SegmentTerminator = vbCrLf
  oEdiDoc.ElementTerminator = "*"
  oEdiDoc.CompositeTerminator = ">"
  
  

• Create the interchange.  The CreateInterchange method creates the interchange entity including the group header and trailer control segment.

  Dim oInterchange As Fredi.ediInterchange
  
  ' Create the Group envelope.
  Set oInterchange = oEdiDoc.CreateInterchange("X", "005030")

• Set the values in the interchange header.

  Dim oHeader As Fredi.ediDataSegment
  
  ' Get the interchange header.
  Set oHeader = oInterchange.GetDataSegmentHeader
  
  ' Set the values of the elements.
  oHeader.DataElementValue(1) = "00"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(3) = "00"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(5) = "ZZ"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(6) = "SENDERISA"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(7) = "ZZ"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(8) = "RECEIVERISA"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(9) = "960807"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(10) = "1548"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(11) = "U"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(12) = "00503"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(13) = "000000020"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(14) = "0"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(15) = "T"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(16) = ">"
  

• Create the group in the interchange.  The CreateGroup method creates the group entity including the group header and trailer control segment.

  Dim oGroup As Fredi.ediGroup
  
  ' Create the Group envelope.
  Set oGroup = oInterchange.CreateGroup("005030")

• Set the values in the group header.

  Dim oHeader As Fredi.ediDataSegment
  
  ' Get the group header.
  Set oHeader = oGroup.GetDataSegmentHeader
  
  ' Set the values of the elements.
  Set oHeader = oGroup.GetDataSegmentHeader
  oHeader.DataElementValue(1) = "IN"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(2) = "SENDERDEPT"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(3) = "RECEIVERDEPT"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(4) = "20090419"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(5) = "1548"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(6) = "1"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(7) = "X"
  oHeader.DataElementValue(8) = "005030VICS"