HL7PlusComponent

*All example code is in Visual Basic.Net

'Where MyController is a HL7PlusController object

Dim oMSg As HL7PlusMessage = MyController.NewHL7PlusMessage()

If IsNothing(oMSg) Then

MessageBox.Show("An Error Occurred: " & MyController.LastError, "Error")

Return

End If

'oMsg is now an EMPTY HL7 message.

'From this point on we don't have to worry about HL7PlusController Errors

'In an EMPTY message I MUST add the MSH segment first

Dim oMSH As HL7PlusSegment = oMSg.AddEmptySegment("MSH")

'---Now let's play and set some field values.

'An HL7 DateTime Stamp

Dim strNow As String = oMSg.ParentHL7Controller.HL7Now

Dim oFld7 As HL7PlusField = oMSH.Field(7)

Dim oComp1 As HL7PlusComponent = oFld7.Component(1)

oComp1.SubComponentValue(1) = strNow

'The Precision

oComp1.SubComponentValue(2) = "S"

'----I can also just do this

strNow = oMSg.ParentHL7Controller.HL7Now & oMSg.SubComponentDelimiter & "S"

oComp1.Value = strNow

Property Name	Data Type	Description
NumberOfSubComponents	Int32	The number of SubComponents the component contains. NOTE: Just like a Field can be a repeating field and have more than 1 instance. Components can also contain more than 1 value and they are called SubComponents.
IsCompound	Boolean	Does the component contain multiple Sub-Components (NumberOfSubComponents > 1)
SubComponentValue	String	Get / Set the raw String value of 1 particular SubComponent Instance. This property takes 1 parameter. Parameter 1: nSubComponentIndex (Int32) Which SubComponent instance are you getting / setting. NOTE: When SETTING the SubComponentValue if the Value contains the SubComponentDelimiter a system exception is thrown.
ParentField	HL7PlusField	The parent HL7PlusField object which contains the component.
Value	String	Get / Set the entire raw value of the HL7PlusComponent. Using this property to Set the HL7PlusComponent value should be considered an advanced option. It is possible to corrupt your message doing this.
Values	List(of String)	Get / Set the Value property using a List(of String) where each Item in the List object represents a SubComponentValue. NOTE: When SETTING the SubComponentValue if any item in the List object contains the SubComponentDelimiter a system exception is thrown. NOTE: An empty List is equivalent to setting Value = "" or Calling Clear().
ValueIsValid	Boolean	Evaluates the Value of the object to determine if it contains invalid data (IE Encoding Characters)

Method:	Clear()
Paramters:	None
Return Value:	None
Description:	Clears the HL7PlusField object. Equivalent to setting Value = ""

Method:	PadSubComponentsTo(MaxInstances)
Paramters:	1: MaxInstances (Int32)
Return Value:	Boolean
Description:	Adds empty("") repeating instances to the HL7PlusField object until FieldInstances = MaxInstances

Method:	Scrub(OPTIONAL ScrubAllEscapes = False, Optional ScrubAllSubComponents = False)
Paramters:	1: OPTIONAL ScrubAllEscapes Boolean- Default = False. 2: OPTIONAL ScrubAllSubComponents Boolean- Default = False.
Return Value:	Boolean
Description:	Scrubs the Component object of invalid corrupting data. See Validating Data for Scrub Rules.

Method:	ScrubAValue(ValueToScrub, OPTIONAL ScrubAllEscapes = False, Optional ScrubAllSubComponents = False)
Paramters:	1: ValueToScrub - String. The string value to perform the Scrub operation on. 2: OPTIONAL ScrubAllEscapes Boolean- Default = False. 3: OPTIONAL ScrubAllSubComponents Boolean- Default = False.
Return Value:	String - Returns the scrubbed ValueToScrub.
Description:	Scrubs ValueToScrub of invalid corrupting data. See Validating Data for Scrub Rules.

Method:	TrimEmptySubComponents()
Paramters:	None
Return Value:	None
Description:	Removes trailing empty SubComponentValue(s)

Method:	TrimSubComponentsTo(MaxInstances)
Paramters:	1: MaxInstances (Int32)
Return Value:	Boolean
Description:	Removes repeating instances from the HL7PlusField object until FieldInstances = MaxInstances NOTE: Calling TrimSubComponentsTo(0) is the same as calling Clear().

This object class uses our standard HL7PlusException Class interface for error handling wherever possible.

Class Name:	HL7PlusComponent
HL7+ Category:	Restricted (Accessed through the HL7PlusField and HL7PlusSegment object)
Description:	Object representation of 1 component within a HL7PlusField