Overview

An eText template is an RTF-based template that is used to generate text output for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

At runtime, Publisher applies this template to an input XML data file to create an output text file that can be transmitted to a bank or other customer. Because the output is intended for electronic communication, the eText templates must follow very specific format instructions for exact placement of data.

An EFT is an electronic transmission of financial data and payments to banks in a specific fixed-position format flat file (text).

EDI is similar to EFT except it's not limited to the transmission of payment information to banks. It's often used as a method of exchanging business documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, between companies. EDI data is delimiter-based, and also transmitted as a flat file (text).

Files in these formats are transmitted as flat files, rather than printed on paper. The length of a record is often several hundred characters and therefore difficult to layout on standard size paper.

To accommodate the record length, the EFT and EDI templates are designed using tables. Each record is represented by a table. Each row in a table corresponds to a field in a record. The columns of the table specify the position, length, and value of the field.

These formats can also require special handling of the data from the input XML file. This special handling can be on a global level (for example, character replacement and sequencing) or on a record level (for example, sorting). Commands to perform these functions are declared in command rows. Global level commands are declared in setup tables.

At runtime, Publisher constructs the output file according to the setup commands and layout specifications in the tables.

Prerequisites

This section is intended for users who're familiar with EDI and EFT transactions.

Preparers of eText templates require both functional and technical knowledge; that is, functional expertise to understand bank and country specific payment format requirements and sufficient technical expertise to understand XML data structure and eText specific coding syntax commands, functions, and operations.