Generate a VMD with Chameleon
Turns out the easiest way to create a VMD is from a valid HL7 sample message. Chameleon can parse the message and generate the VMD file. This process will work for any message type, in this example we are using an SIU message.
Create a sample message.
This is the sample SIU message:
| MSH|^~&|SCHEDULER|GENERAL_HOSPITAL|IGUANA|INTERFACEWARE|20260911190000||SIU^S12^SIU_S12|SIU000001|P|2.7SCH|APT000123|BOOK000456||||CHECKUP^Routine Checkup|Routine outpatient appointment|NORMAL|||30|MIN|^^^20260915110000|||||1234^Smith^Sarah^^^^^^MD||||1234^Smith^Sarah^^^^^^MD|BOOKEDPID|1||12345678^^^GENERAL_HOSPITAL^MR||Doe^John^Michael||19850315|M|||123 Main Street^^Toronto^ON^M5V2T6^CAN||4165551234PV1|1|O|CLINIC^ROOM1^A^GENERAL_HOSPITAL||||1234^Smith^Sarah^^^^^^MDRGS|1AIS|1||CONSULT^General Consultation|||20260915110000|||30|MINNTE|1||Patient should arrive 15 minutes before the appointment.AIG|1||ECG01^ECG Machine|ECG^Electrocardiograph||20260915110000|||30|MINAIL|1||CLINIC^ROOM1^A^GENERAL_HOSPITALAIP|1||1234^Smith^Sarah^^^^^^MDRGS|2AIS|1||LABWORK^Pre-appointment Laboratory Work|||20260915103000|||20|MINNTE|1||Laboratory work should be completed before the consultation.AIL|1||LAB^ROOM12^A^GENERAL_HOSPITALAIP|1||5678^Jones^Robert^^^^^^MD |
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Chameleon procedure to create the VMD file.
- Open Chameleon
- Click the Browse button on the toolbar:

- Paste the message into the top pane of the dialogue
- Click the [Parse] button:

- Click the [Parse] button:
- You will see red unrecognized segments
- Click the underlined message in the yellow bar:
"Segments with red icons are unrecognized. Click here to import their definitions"

- Click the underlined message in the yellow bar:
- Click next three times to finish the wizard dialogue:

- Then click the next message in the yellow bar:
"Message is unrecognized. Click here to create a message definition to identity it."

- Click Finish in the dialogue:

- Now you can export a new VMD to recognize your messages:

- You can download the example VMD generated by this tutorial for comparison: demo-siu.vmd