iNTERFACEWARE™ Inc.

What's New in Chameleon 5.0?

This section describes all the key features that have been added to Chameleon since its last official release:

iNTERFACEWARE News Feed

• The iNTERFACEWARE News Feed (also known as a web feed) is available directly from within Chameleon. The news feed highlights all the latest iNTERFACEWARE news and happenings, such as the most recent Chameleon and Iguana updates.

Enhancements to the Stubcode Generation Wizard

• The Stubcode Generation Wizard has been redesigned. Although it still offers the same familiar functionality found in previous versions, now the wizard also allows you to generate separate client and server examples. This makes it easier to generate the skeleton of an HL7 interface program for your specific requirements.

New Parser Engine Available

• The 5.0 parser engine is the recommended parser and can be selected for use from the Misc Tab. It offers enhanced support when using Python Field Objects and Python Validation Rules. In addition, it offers improved support for present but null values and parses messages approximately 40 percent faster than the 4.5 parser engine. Lastly, the new parser engine also automatically bypasses incorrectly inserted \n characters that occur after \r characters in segments.

• The Error/Warning Pane, available in the Message Browser, will now display helpful error codes and messages when there are errors during message parsing. As is the case with the 4.5 parser engine, warnings will only be displayed when Show Warnings is enabled.

XML Schema Generation Window

• A new XML Schema Generation window has been added to Chameleon, which replaces the XML schema generation functionality previously found in the Stubcode Generation Wizard. This separate window allows you to easily generate DTDs, XML schemas and Biztalk schemas for every XML flavor supported by Chameleon.

Validate Data for XML -> HL7 Translation

• It is now possible to Validate Data for XML -> HL7 Translation when using the Full Tree Validation translation scheme. When this option is enabled from the XML tab, Chameleon validates data when translating messages from XML to HL7.

Escape Data for XML -> HL7 Translation

• This new feature allows you to Escape Data for XML -> HL7 Translation when using the Full Tree Validation or Standard Version 2 translation schemes. When this option is enabled from the XML tab, Chameleon escapes special characters when translating messages from XML to HL7.

Stubcode Generation Executable

• A new executable called Stubgen allows you to generate stubcode with command line switches from the Chameleon install directory. Overall, stubgen is a more lightweight tool, runs faster, and is considered an improvement over previous implementations since you no longer need to use command line options on vmstudio.exe to generate stubcode.

DB Tab Gets New Design

• The DB Tab found in the Options Window has been redesigned. It offers an improved look-and-feel and is now more intuitive to use. In the DB tab you can specify the default database for a database object, which will be available for use in Python scripting. In this window you can also specify the host, and (if required) username and password for a specific database. In addition, it also allows you to test the connection to the selected database.

GUID Generator

• The GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) Generator allows you to create unique IDs for use with HL7 messages, with the most common use associated with message control IDs (MSH.10). The generated GUID will be a hex-encoded string, consisting of 32 characters for a 128-bit string. A 256-bit string will contain 64 characters.

Borland Delphi 2007 Support

• Support for Borland Delphi 2007 has been added to Chameleon. It is now available for selection from the Stubcode Generation Wizard.