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The thought was that Designer would provide another option for message transformation capability similar to the use of the Graphical Data Map in Toolkit. Within GDM DFDL is used for message parsing and several DFDL schemas are used to accommodate the various HL7 models that are part of the healthcare integration landscape. The same DFDL editing functionality would be preferred in Designer ( ie the other option would be to attempt to normalize the HL7 to a single DFDL schema prior to sending the message to Designer, a less preferred option ). Of the other items mentioned, HL7 testing utilities would take precedence - DFDL schema testing similar to what exists in GDM. Also, a utility to quickly test GDM changes without having to deploy to runtime would be a welcome addition.
Idea / RFE Review. Thank you for taking the time to raise this enhancement request. Whilst we agree that it would be great to help Designer users exploit HL7 data more easily, we also have some concerns with the necessary complexity of the user experience when interacting with DFDL models which could create serious friction for the somewhat simpler experience we aim for with Designer which attempts to better satisfy personas who may not have such a technical or integration-centric skills background. Given this, it would be good to have feedback from readers on the detailed scope of the use case presented here ... for example would editting of the DFDL model be needed or would the HL7 data being used be fully compliant with the formal HL7 specifications (frequently we find customers need to tweak the HL7 models they use due to less than ideal conformity with with the industry standard still being rife amongst HL7 literate applications) ? Also it would be good to know if other capabilities in the App Connect for Healthcare offering would also be needed for the usecases (eg DICOM nodes? Test utilities for the healthcare data? Patterns? etc.) We would need to consider carefully these kind of related questions before beginning such a major shift and bringing DFDL in to the Designer experience. Thoughts welcome. Meanwhile, status of the idea is updated to Future Consideration.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for submitting this - moving it to the App Connect list as both Toolkit and Designer are in their area and hence they can evaluate appropriately.