B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

180 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
X12 EDI
IEDI -XML
i Translator
• Uses
L\
XML —* XSL Parser frwnf
XEDI XSL Parser XML
Uses
EDI Data Dictionary Transformation
Instruction Sets
Figure 6.4. — EDI to XML conversion
Uses
K
EDI
Transformation
Rules Figure 6.5. — XML to EDI conversion
order, which actually signals his approval — this could for instance be a
digital signature. The approved purchase order can be sent back to the
supplier's application as a plain EDI file. In this way, both human and
machine readable messages that are created by a human or an application,
can travel through an organization and can be sent to another organization
and switch between humans and applications.
It should be noted that one of the objections to wrapping an EDI
message in an XML format is that a lot of overhead is created in the
message.
6.6.3. Characteristics of XML/EDI
XML/EDI messages consist of a fusion of XML and EDI tags and data.
They can be transmitted over the Internet like pure XML messages or
over the VAN like EDI messages. All the current Web browsers that