MDMI_ — Complex transformation to the central dictionary

The current specification can require very complex incoming and outgoing conversions between a MessageElement and a dictionary's Business Element. The ConversionRule rule language will have to be complex and non-standard. In addition, important information for an implementation would be buried in those rules as opposed to that information being declarative and accessible.

MDMI will provide a clearer map if the association between a SemanticElement and a central dictionary's BusinessElements is isomorphic or represents well defined "near synonyms". This requires that transformations that are more complex are needed to prepare for that isomorphism be more explicitly included in the map. Towards that end, the new attribute "elementType" will be added to the SemanticElement class.
This attribute is defined by an enumeration that currently has three values each of which defines the type of Semantic Element.
· NORMAL - a "NORMAL" semantic element is equivalent to the current definition of a SemanticElement, i.e., a semantic element, contained in a message format, which is to be mapped to a central dictionary.
· LOCAL - a "LOCAL semantic element contains some technical information need that is needed to correctly map NORMAL semantic element, e.g., it may contain an index that is used to provide the ordering for a semantic element that has multiple instances.
· COMPUTED - a "COMPUTED" semantic element that is to be mapped to the central dictionary but contains a value that is not extracted from a message Instead, a "COMPUTED" semantic element's value is computed from the value of other SemanticElements in the message.
Three additional attributes are added to provide rules for computed values:
1. computedValue - An MDMIExpression that computes the value of the SemanticElement, which can refer to the value of other SemanticElements This attribute is most often used for SemanticElements of the type LOCAL.
2. computedInValue - an MDMIExpression that computes a value for a SemanticElement, when it is a target, based on the values of one or more BusinessElements and SemanticElements. The value when it is a source is directly mapped.
3. computedOutValue – an MDMIExpression that computes a value for a SemanticElement, when it is a source, based on the values of one or more SemanticElements. The value when it is a target is directly mapped.