Contact Us 1-800-596-4880

HL7 ACK Component Reference

The HL7 protocol specifies that when an application receives an HL7 message, it must return a message of type ACK (general acknowledge) to the sender. Before generating the ACK message, the receiving application must first check the original HL7 message that it received for formatting errors, missing data and other errors. Then, the receiving application generates the ACK message according to the results.

The Mule HL7 ACK Component processes the received HL7 message and automatically generates the appropriate ACK message.

The HL7 ACK Component is part of the Mule Healthcare Toolkit, which also includes transformers and components for receiving, processing and sending HL7 messages. For details and a full list of available tools, consult the Toolkit’s documentation main page.

XML Element Configuration

hl7:ack-component

Sample Complete XML Configuration

Studio

<hl7:ack-component ackCode="AA" validation="WEAK" doc:name="HL7 ACK"/>

Mule Runtime

<hl7:ack-component ackCode="AA" validation="WEAK"/>

Configuration For Studio and Mule Runtime

Studio Visual Editor

General Tab

hl7 ack
Name

Description

XML

Display Name

Name of the building block as it appears in the flow

---- doc:name="HL7 ACK" ----

ACK / NACK Code

The ACK or NACK (Negative ACK) code for the MSA-1 field of the ACK message. HL7 supports the following codes:

* AA: Application Accept * AE: Application Error * AR: Application Reject

---- ackCode="AA" ----

Strong / Weak Validation

Allows you to select between STRONG or WEAK HL7 message validation (leave blank for no validation).

* STRONG: Checks that all message structure components are present, and that the message is well-formed * WEAK: Only checks that the message is well-formed

---- validation="STRONG" ----

XML Editor

To access the Studio XML Editor, click the Configuration XML tab under the canvas.

The table below describes all configurable parameters for this building block.

Name

Description

XML

Display Name

Name of the building block as it appears in the flow

---- doc:name="HL7 ACK" ----

ACK / NACK Code

The ACK or NACK (Negative ACK) code for the MSA-1 field of the ACK message. HL7 supports the following codes:

* AA: Application Accept * AE: Application Error * AR: Application Reject

---- ackCode="AA" ----

Strong / Weak Validation

Allows you to select between STRONG or WEAK HL7 message validation (leave blank for no validation).

* STRONG: Checks that all message structure components are present, and that the message is well-formed * WEAK: Only checks that the message is well-formed

---- validation="STRONG" ----

Standalone

HL7 ACK Component Attributes

Name Type/Allowed values Required Default Description

ackCode

string

yes

AA

ACK code to send to the originating application.

validation

WEAK / STRONG

yes

WEAK

Allows you to select between STRONG or WEAK HL7 message validation.

Namespace and Syntax

http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/hl7

XML Schema Location

http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/hl7/mule-hl7.xsd

Example Message Flow

To send an ACK message to the originating application, place the ACK Component before an HL7 Outbound Connector configured with the host name and listening port of the originating application. Consult the example page to see a simple flow that sends an ACK message using the All Flow Control and the Cache Scope.