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· Dec 16, 2024 5m read

IRIS-HL7v2Gen: Dynamic HL7 Test Message and Structure Generation for Healthcare Integration

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Hi Community,

In this article, I will introduce my application iris-HL7v2Gen .

IRIS-HL7v2Gen is a CSP application that facilitates the dynamic generation of HL7 test messages. This process is essential for testing, debugging, and integrating healthcare data systems. The application allows users to generate a wide variety of HL7 message types, validate their structure against HL7 specifications, explore the message hierarchy, and transmit messages over TCP/IP to production systems. These features are particularly useful in settings where compliance with HL7 standards is mandatory for interoperability between different healthcare organizations or systems.


Application Features

  • Dynamic HL7 Message Generation: Instantly create HL7 messages for a range of message types, facilitating comprehensive testing.
  • Message Structure Exploration: Visualize the structure of generated messages based on HL7 specifications.
  • Value Set Visualization View predefined sets of allowable coded values for specific fields.
  • Message Validation: Validate messages against HL7 standards to ensure compliance.
  • TCP/IP Communication: Easily transmit messages to production using TCP/IP settings.
  • Broad Message Type Support: Supports 184 different HL7 message types, ensuring versatility for various healthcare integration needs.
  • ClassMethod: Generate a Test Message by Invoking a Class Method
  • Version Support: Currently Supports HL7 Version 2.5



Dynamic HL7 Message Generation

The core functionality of IRIS-HL7v2Gen is its ability to dynamically generate HL7 test messages. Users can select from a list of 184 message types, ranging from ADT (Admit, Discharge, Transfer) messages to ORM (Order Message) and ORU (Observation Result) messages. This dynamic message generation allows developers and testers to simulate a wide array of healthcare data exchanges and test their integrations.

The application’s interface is designed for simplicity, allowing users to select a message type from a dropdown list, click a button, and immediately generate a test message. This feature is valuable for quickly creating realistic data exchanges that can be used to test systems, troubleshoot errors, and ensure compliance with HL7 standards.

In order to generate the test message, select a message type from the dropdown list and click the 'Generate Test Message' button.

The application will generate a test message
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 Exploring HL7 Message Structure

HL7 messages can be complex, containing multiple segments, fields, and components. Understanding the structure of these messages is key to ensuring that data is transmitted accurately. IRIS-HL7v2Gen provides an intuitive feature that allows users to explore the structure of the generated message. This feature visualizes the hierarchical structure of the HL7 message, making it easier to understand how different parts of the message relate to each other.

By providing this level of insight, the application helps users identify any structural issues within the message and make necessary adjustments before transmission.

Upon selecting the Message Type, the application will construct the message structure based on HL7 specifications.

Value Set Visualization

This feature enhances message profiling by displaying field value sets. It allows users to view predefined sets of allowable coded values for each field within the message profile, ensuring that data is consistent and standardized according to HL7 v2 specifications. By binding fields to specific value sets, the application helps users create precise, compliant message definitions, reducing optionality and improving interoperability between healthcare systems.
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Message Validation

Once a test message has been generated, the application provides a built-in message validation feature. Validating HL7 messages is crucial to ensure they conform to the HL7 standards, preventing issues during real-world exchanges. The application checks the structure of the message, ensuring that it adheres to the required syntax and segment specifications.

Click the 'Validate Message' button to validate the generated message.


Transmission via TCP/IP

Once a test message is validated and structured correctly, the application enables users to transmit the message to production systems using TCP/IP. This feature is essential for real-world applications, where HL7 messages need to be sent to various systems, including electronic health records (EHR) systems, laboratory systems, and other healthcare applications.

The transmission process is straightforward. Users can open the "View Production" page, ensure the production is started, and click the "Send Message to Production" button. This feature simplifies the process of sending HL7 messages to external systems for further processing, ensuring that messages are accurately transmitted to the right destination.
TCP/IP connection settings

By default, the host and port are defined based on the running production, but they can be modified by clicking on 'Connection Settings' if you want to send the message to another TCP/IP client.
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Click on “Send message to production” button from the application

Select the business service “HL7TcpService” and Open the message viewer
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Class Methods for Message Generation

For advanced users, IRIS-HL7v2Gen allows for the generation of HL7 messages through a class method. By connecting to the IRIS terminal, users can invoke the GenMessage function from the dc.HL7v2Gen class and specify the desired message type. This functionality allows for greater flexibility and automation, particularly for developers who want to integrate the message generation process into their custom workflows or testing scripts.

For example, a user can execute the following command in the IRIS terminal to generate an ADT_A01 message:

set mes = ##class(dc.HL7v2Gen).GenMessage("ADT_A01")
write mes

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Invoke the function outlined below to retrieve the supported message types

do ##class(dc.HL7v2Gen).ListMessageTypes()

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Below is the snippet of HL7v2Gen class


For more information or to access a live demo, please visit iris-HL7v2Gen open exchange application page.

Thanks

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Announcement
· Dec 16, 2024

Doxygenerate - a new tool for building standalone documentation of your IRIS application's object model

The InterSystems platforms have always offered dynamic documentation of the packages and classes in a namespace, a feature known informally as Documatic. But what if you need to publish this class reference information on a website without requiring the site to be connected to an IRIS server containing the actual classes?

For my entry to the December 2024 Developer Community “Bringing Ideas to Reality” contest I decided to implement the idea of a generator that produces a static set of class reference pages . And since I chose to leverage the well-established Doxygen tool I named my tool Doxygenerate.

Intrigued? Go to https://georgejames.com/files/doxygenerate/MARINA/index.html where you can browse the object model of a real-world class-based application for marina management, built with InterSystems technology, but do so from a website that doesn't run an InterSystems server nor connect to one elsewhere.

Where the MARINA application's classes reference classes in the IRISLIB packages you can follow links to those, including from the Inheritance and Collaboration diagrams that Doxygen gives us for free. Or if you fancy browsing all the IRISLIB packages directly, go to https://georgejames.com/files/doxygenerate/__IRISLIB/index.html. Similarly the ENSLIB packages (not used by MARINA) are available at https://georgejames.com/files/doxygenerate/__ENSLIB/index.html. And the %SYS packages can be explored  at https://georgejames.com/files/doxygenerate/_SYS/index.html.

Want to try it with your own application? Start here.

"What sorcery is this?"

Doxygen doesn't understand InterSystems class definitions. But it does understand many other languages, including Python. So Doxygenerate writes stub Python files that lack method code but contain just enough to make Doxygen create a meaningful class reference. I call these simulacrum files. Think of them as like the building facades on a film lot. Not enough substance to function as buildings, but sufficient to convince the viewer that they're on the main street of a classic Western where a gunfight may be about to break out.

Feedback is welcome here, or by opening issues on Doxygenerate's GitHub repository.

If you like what I've done please support Doxygenerate in the contest before voting ends on 22 Dec, 2024 at 11:59:59 PM EST.

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Announcement
· Dec 16, 2024

Time to vote in the InterSystems "Bringing Ideas to Reality" Contest

Hi Community,

It's voting time! Cast your votes for the best applications in our "Bringing Ideas to Reality" Contest:

🔥 VOTE FOR THE BEST APPS 🔥

How to vote? Details below.

Experts nomination:

InterSystems experienced jury will choose the best apps to nominate the prizes in the Experts Nomination.

Community nomination:

For each user, a higher score is selected from two categories below:

Conditions

Place
1st 2nd 3rd
If you have an article posted on DC and an app uploaded to Open Exchange (OEX) 9 6 3
If you have at least 1 article posted on DC or 1 app uploaded to OEX 6 4 2
If you make any valid contribution to DC (posted a comment/question, etc.) 3 2 1

 

Level

Place
1st 2nd 3rd
VIP Global Masters level or ISC Product Managers 15 10 5
Ambassador GM level 12 8 4
Expert GM level or DC Moderators 9 6 3
Specialist GM level 6 4 2
Advocate GM level or ISC Employees 3 2 1

Blind vote!

The number of votes for each app will be hidden from everyone. Once a day we will publish the leaderboard in the comments to this post. 

The order of projects on the contest page will be as follows: the earlier an application was submitted to the competition, the higher it will be on the list.

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to this post (click on the bell icon) to be notified of new comments.

To take part in the voting, you need:

  1. Sign in to Open Exchange – DC credentials will work.
  2. Make any valid contribution to the Developer Community – answer or ask questions, write an article, contribute applications on Open Exchange – and you'll be able to vote. Check this post on the options to make helpful contributions to the Developer Community.

If you change your mind, cancel the choice and give your vote to another application!

Support the application you like!


Note: contest participants are allowed to fix the bugs and make improvements to their applications during the voting week, so don't miss and subscribe to application releases!

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Question
· Dec 16, 2024

Blank jobs due to missing implementation at time of sending deferred response how to clear

When implementing deferred response there was a problem initially with a few responses which meant we had blank jobs spawned somehow. How do you get rid. All the operation does is:

  SET sc =..SendRequestAsync($piece(..ForwardComponentNames,",", i),pRequest,1)

These all sent ok and tried to update status to 9 from 6 hoping it would clear the blank jobs but it didn't . The original issue has been resolved weeks ago. 

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Article
· Dec 16, 2024 1m read

Explicação sobre grupos e tags na Comunidade de Desenvolvedores

Ei Comunidade!

Hoje decidimos esclarecer outro tópico importante que, aparentemente, surpreende alguns de vocês. É o uso de Grupo e Tags. O primeiro é obrigatório, mas o segundo não.

Quando você está criando uma publicação, há dois campos aparentemente similares após a área do corpo do texto - Grupo e Tags.

Grupos

Grupos são principalmente nomes de produtos e serviços InterSystems.

Então quando você está escrevendo uma publicação na comunidade, você precisa escolher cuidadosamente sobre qual produto a sua publicação fala. Na maioria dos casos, será sobre só um deles, a não ser que você esteja escrevendo sobre usar VSCode com IRIS, por exemplo. Neste caso, você pode escolher ambos.


Tags

Tags permitem que você descreve do que o seu post trata de maneira mais precisa. Você pode escolher da lista de drop-down a linguagem, tecnologia, sistema operacional, domínio, etc. É claro, pode haver mais de uma tag na publicação.

Então, se você deseja que sua publicação atinja as pessoas certas, o que é especialmente crucial para perguntas, é importante escolher o Grupo e Tags corretos. Dessa maneira, outros membros não vão perder tempo em algo que não é relevante e, por outro lado, verão o que é interessante a eles.

Se você não tem certeza do que significa o nome da tag (ou grupo), então provavelmente não precisa utilizá-la ;)

Esperamos que isso esclareça  um pouco o uso de Grupos e Tags ✌️

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