ETEXT Templates for Check Printing - Part 2

As explained in my last post, many standalone check print solutions integrated with Oracle E-business suite require only a fixed position text file of check data.

The third party software takes care of the layout and presentation of the document.

In order to fulfil this requirement, we have to:

1)- Define the structure of the fixed position Check file required by the third party software.
2)- Understand the XML file created for Payment Disbursements.
3)- Build an ETEXT template according to the structure defined in point 1 and based upon the XML file from point 2.
4)- Set up Oracle Payments to use our custom ETEXT template for Check printing.

OK - let’s look at each of these points:

1)- Define the structure of the Check file required by the third party software:

Before I start to build my template or write any code, I like to map the required file structure completely i.e. define what records appear on each line, their relative positions, length and any padding that is required.
Note: You may need to liaise with your third party vendor or check their documentation to complete this exercise!

I recommend creating a table with at least the following information:

- Line Num: the line number in the text file
- Field Name: the name of the attribute in the file
- Position From: the position number where the attribute value starts on the line
- Field Length: the length of the attribute
- Padding character: any padding character if the attribute length is less than the field length
- XML File Source: the source tag value from the Payments Disbursement XML file
- Default Value: the default value of the field

For example, take the following extract from a fixed position check file:

NCKEVIN WOODROW 01-JUN-20081872 1000,000.00

12 HOLLYWOOD BLVD LOS ANGELES

CALIFORNIA 90210

The structure of this file is:

Line Num	Field Name	Position From	Field Length	Padding Char
1	New Cheque Indicator	1	2	none
1	Payee Name	3	50	' '
1	Payment Date(DD-MON-YYYY)	53	11	none
1	Check Number	64	20	' '
1	Check Amount(####,###.00)	84	11	' '
2	Address Line 1	1	50	' '
2	Address Line 2	51	50	' '
3	Address Line 3	1	50	' '

......and so on


Trust me - if you take time to complete this exercise, building the ETEXT template will be very simple!!


2)- Understand the XML file created for Payment Disbursements:

The BI Publisher data template for Payment Disbursements is:
- Name: Oracle Payments Funds Disbursement Payment Instruction Extract 1.0
- Code: IBY_FD_INSTRUCTION_1_0


In previous blog post, I outlined the structure of the XML file created and how to add custom fields to the XML file produced:

http://kwoodrow.blogspot.com/2008/06/part-2-adding-new-fields-to-r12-payment.html

This file is also well documented in Appendix K of the Oracle Payments Implementation Guide (Part Num: B28872-03).

OK - Here is my table from Point 1 updated with the data source from the XML file:

Line Num  Field Name                 XML Data Source (XPATH syntax)
--------  -------------------------  ------------------------------
1         New Cheque Indicator     
1         Payee Name                 OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/Payee/Name
1         Payment Date(DD-MON-YYYY)  OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/PaymentDate
1         Check Number               OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/PaymentNumber/CheckNumber
1         Check Amount(####,###.00)  OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/PaymentAmount

2         Address Line 1             OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/Payee/Address/AddressLine1
2         Address Line 2             OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/Payee/Address/AddressLine2

3         Address Line 3             OutboundPaymentInstruction/OutboundPayment/Payee/Address/AddressLine3

Now we know the exact structure and data source of the text file required building the ETEXT template will take no time!

I'll cover that tomorrow.