DaFoDiL®
- Data Format Description Language--
facilitating faster, more adaptive EDI development
Download information on DaFoDiL in PDF format
The DaFoDiL® data format description language was developed to provide a mechanism for building interfaces that separate the source of data from actual executable code. Designed as a programmer's tool, DaFoDiL® allows a developer to write an application without advance knowledge of the format of input or output data. The developer only needs to know the name that has been assigned to a particular data item and the name of the source data in the DaFoDiL® language.
During processing when a value is needed that is controlled by the DaFoDiL® language, the DaFoDiL® engine will take the data name and source name and return the appropriate value. This functionality and concept is similar to that used in databases where the format and location of the storage of data is kept separated from the application code and is not needed or known by the programmer.
Currently the DaFoDiL® language will
read information from any record format, form format or X12 format. Bowman
Interface Technologies currently has several applications that are using DaFoDiL®.
One of these applications, Claims-2-Ezcap™, provides a translation
of medical claims data into a popular capitation system used by managed care
entities. As the licensee of Claims-2-Ezcap™ gets electronic
claims data from new physicians or hospitals, the new file format is given
a name and "registered" in the DaFoDiL® language.
This registration requires no modification to the application program. The
typical time to "register" a new file is less than one hour.