Selecting Datatypes for HL7 Messages

When creating an HL7 message definition, map the following HL7 datatypes to the appropriate datatypes in Message Designer when you add the field to the message definition.

The HL7 Date, HL7 Time, and HL7 Timestamp datatypes do not support varying precision from message to message. You must select a specific format for each of these datatypes in your HL7 message. If you need to support different date/time precisions in the same message definition, use the String datatype instead. In this case, validation will not reject incorrectly formatted dates.

HL7 Datatypes and Their Equivalents in Message Designer

Datatype in HL7	Maps to Datatype in Message Definition
String	String
Text Data	String
Formatted Text	String
Numeric	Choose based on the data: Integer, Float, or Double.
Seq ID	Integer
ID	String
IS	String
Date	Date (Date format: `yyyyMMdd`)
Time	Time (Time format: `HHmmss`)
Time stamp	Custom Date and Time (Date time format: `yyyyMMddHHmmss.SZ`)
Telephone number	String

Adding a Field to a Message Definition

Default Date and Time Properties