HL7DataTypeDef Class
Contents
Class Name: HL7DataTypeDef
Scope: Public - Restricted - Child Class of HL7DefinitionData - No public constructor.
This class contains the structure of a HL7 Data Type as contained in the HL7DefinitionData parent object. Example data types are: XPN (Extended Person Name), PN (Person Name), XAD (Extended Addres), ST (String), NM (Numeric) etc. Every field (HL7DataFieldDef) in a HL7 Definition has a Data Type (there is ONE exception in HL7 which is Field # 5 of the OBX segment which is listed as data type * and can be ANY data type).
So following the structure of a HL7 message. Messages are made up of Segments (HL7DataSegmentDef), Segments are made of Fields (HL7DataFieldDef) and Fields represent a HL7 Data Type (HL7DataTypeDef) which is made up of Components (HL7DataTypeComponentDef).
What is a "No Nulls" Class? It means that we have gone to great lengths so that there no exceptions thrown or null values returned on accessor methods. You really have to try and break it (please don't though).
But how does it work in practice? It means in this class if you want to access Component #12000 of DataType XPN you can do it by calling HL7DataTypeDef.Component(12000). Now there are NOT 12000 components in the XPN data type, there are more like 7-14 depending on which version of HL7 you're using. But this class WILL return a real HL7DataTypeComponentDef object to you rather than Null. It will be an empty object and the IsDefined property will be False.
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String Category - HL7 defined "category" the data type belongs to.
String DataTypeName - The name of the data type (XPN, PN, ST, NM, etc)
String Description - The description of the data type.
Boolean HasMultipleComponents - True if NumberOfComponents is > 1.
Boolean IsDefined - Is the HL7DataTypeDef part of the EasyHL7 Vendor Definition loaded into the parent HL7DefinitionData class object.
String Notes - Any user notes.
Integer NumberOfComponents - The number of components (HL7DataTypeComponentDef objects) contained in this class instance.
Note: Will be 0 if IsDefined is False.
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HL7DataTypeComponentDef Component(Integer) Parameter 1: Integer - index. The ordinal position within the object of the component you wish between 1 and NumberOfComponents.
Returns: HL7DataTypeComponentDef. It will always return an object instance to you. Check the IsDefined property to determine if the returned object is actually valid.
HL7DataTypeDef Copy()
Returns: A copy of the object.
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