Features of Bots open source translator

EDI data formats

• EDIFACT.
• X12.
• XML.
• Fixed records/flat file/ASCII.
• CSV/delimited text files.
• SAP idoc.
• EANCOM.
• Readable/printable format ('EDI-fax').

Bots translates any of these formats to any other of these formats.
This makes Bots very flexible.

Communications

• POP3 including TLS and SSL.
• SMTP including TLS and SSL.
• FTP.
• File I/O.
• Database connector (direct communication to database).
• External communication modules.
• User scriptable communication.
• VAN's. We know of connections with:
• X400.
• IPMail (Btinfonet).
• InterCommit.
• Sterling Commerce.
• AS/2: not direct. Advise: use VAN's like IPMail or InterCommit. Better, and less expensive.

Plugins for distributable configuration

• Easy installation of standard EDI scenarios.
• Plugins can be downoad from this web site.
• Plugins provide good examples and learning material.
• Distribution and sharing of configurations by e.g. bots-users, buyers, ERP suppliers or EDI communities.
• Easy update/patch possible.
• A snapshot of your current installation is possible; eg for support purposes.

Flexible deployment

• Bots is web based. Use bots-monitor (GUI) from any workstation.
• Communication and translation can be started by user, be scheduled or started from eg ERP software.
• Get notified by mail in case of errors.
• A lot of flexibility comes from user scripting (form communication, routing etc).
• Platform independent; known to work on Windows and Linux.
• Bots performs good and stable with heavier loads: big messages, lots of messages, lots of 'runs'.
• Supported databases: SQLite (default), MySQL, PostgreSQL.

Other features

• Code conversion, e.g. EAN/UCC-numbers to internal article number.
• Resend and rereceive edi-files.
• Partner dependent syntax (X12!).
• Fully integrated Unicode (character sets).
• Debug options for setting up EDI connections.

Technical info

• Programming language: Python.
• Query EDI messages in mapping scripts to retrieve and place content. Think of X-path or SQL, but tailored for EDI. Is very powerful.
• Incoming messages are converted to a tree structure (think DOM for XML). Outward messages are also build as a tree structure and serialized to an EDI-message.
• Python is used for configuration (mapping scripts, grammars, route scripts etc); not a self-invented toy language. One advantage is to use syntax highlighting and python syntax check in a editor.
• Scalable: different parts of Bots can run on different computers; Bots supports databases suited for heavy loads.