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Transport and Files Module

This module will cover the basics of how data is organized on computers and how HL7 data is sent across the internet.

On this page you'll find:

Week 3 Individual Work Checklist

  • Watch required videos:
  • Complete required exercises:
  • Complete optional exercise:
  • Answer the following homework questions through the emailed REDCap link:
    • What operating system do you use?
    • Which text editor do you prefer?
    • What is the exact HTML that you created for the web page? (Please open your web page in your text editor and paste the text contents, complete with the XML tags, as the answer.)
    • Were you able to submit a Connectivity Test Message to the Immunization Information System (IIS) Sandbox?
      • Yes
      • Tried, but unable to
      • No
    • Were you able to submit a single HL7 message to the IIS Sandbox?
      • Yes
      • Tried, but unable to
      • No
  • Submit your homework via REDCap. You will receive an email with the link to submit a weekly survey of course progress and your answers to the homework questions. This must be submitted by Tuesday evening to be counted toward course participation.

*Videos are password protected. Registered students will receive the password.

CS-105: Computers and Files

Many of you will already understand how to work with files and computers. However, we will cover a few basics and give basic recommendations on how to manage text data properly. We want to ensure that everyone has these basic concepts and skills as they are useful for a wide range of interoperability tasks.

After you watch the video, there are two required exercises and one optional exercise to complete.

A: Command Line

Exercise

You may be asked to open a command line or terminal window. You should know how to and feel comfortable opening these.

Please answer this question:

  • What operating system do you use?

B: Editing Text

It is critical that you feel comfortable opening a text file and making changes to it. A good text editor can help you do this. Spend some time getting familiar with a good text editor and ensure you can view and edit text files.

Exercise

Install or find a good text editor on your system.

Please answer this question:

  • Which text editor do you prefer?

C: Compressing Data Demonstration

Exercise (optional)

You may sometimes need to compress or decompress data. Knowing how to use a basic zip utility is very helpful. If you are not already familiar with compression, please take time to follow this optional exercise and try to compress and decompress files.

*Videos are password protected. Registered students will receive the password.

CS-104: Transport and CDC WSDL

This section will focus on how we move HL7 messages from one system to another. You will learn how legacy HL7 interfaces in hospitals work and how modern standards leverage XML to hold data.

A: Minimum Lower Level Protocol (MLLP)

The original transport standard is still in use today in hospitals and other large health systems. It is so ubiquitous that it is sometimes simply called “TCP/IP.” IIS did not choose to implement this standard nationally, but it is important to know about it when working with partners outside the immunization community.

There is no exercise.

There is no question.

B: Extensible Markup Language (XML)

XML is not used extensively for interoperability in the immunization community but has a minor role in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-defined national transport standard. You will also see it used in various other locations, so understanding XML will be helpful in a wide range of situations.

Exercise

In this exercise you are going to play a little bit with XML and create your own web page. A simple web page is very easy to create and will allow you to practice both your XML and RGB color skills. 

First, you will need to create a new text file called "My First Web Page.html". (Make sure you name the text file with a .html ending, not a .html.txt ending.) Copy the text below into the file and save it.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>My First Web Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>My First Web Page</h1>
    <p>Here I will write my life story...</p>
    <h2>Colors</h2>
    <p><font color="#ff0000">Red</font></p>
    <p><font color="#00ff00">Lime Green</font></p>
    <p><font color="#0000ff">Blue</font></p>
  </body>
</html>

After you save the file, open a new browser window, navigate to the directory where you saved the file, and open it in your browser. If you named it properly, it should open in your default browser. You should now have two windows open--your text editor where you can see the web page source and the web page itself in your browser.

Make changes in the text editor to personalize it to you. Here are some of the changes you should make:

  • Change the <title> of the web page. This is what appears on the web browser tab or window.
  • Change the heading of the web page.
  • Write something in the paragraph.
  • Add your favorite color to the list of colors.

After making these changes, save the file and click the refresh button in your browser to see the changes. 

Please answer this question:

  • What is the exact HTML that you created for the web page? (Please open your web page in your text editor and paste the text contents, complete with the XML tags, as the answer.)

C: HyperText Transfer Protocol, Secure (HTTPS)

Most content on the internet is sent via HTTPS, which is the standard that was built on top of TCP/IP and supported the creation of the World Wide Web. The web address, or URL, that you have used to get to websites is defined by this specification. We will cover a few key aspects you should understand. This will help you during configuration and troubleshooting on HL7 interfaces.

There is no exercise.

There is no question.

D: Simple Access Protocol (SOAP) and CDC WSDL

Now we'll bring everything together into SOAP specification we use to transfer data to IIS. This specification is called the CDC Web Services Definition Language, or CDC WSDL for short. We’ll explain what a WSDL is and give you the chance to work with a SOAP interface directly.

Exercise

The goal of this exercise is to become familiar with how SOAP and the CDC WSDL work using the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) website created to test and verify these systems. You will need the following URLs to complete the exercise:

  • https://hl7v2-iz-r1.5-testing.nist.gov/iztool/#/soapConn (NIST testing site)
  • https://florence.immregistries.org/iis-sandbox/soap (IIS Sandbox)

Go to the NIST testing site and try to test the IIS Sandbox to verify if the SOAP interface is working correctly. This video will walk you through how to do it:

To complete this exercise, you must submit a message through the NIST testing site to the IIS Sandbox using your name in the credentials.

Please answer these questions:

  • Were you able to submit a Connectivity Test Message to the IIS Sandbox?
    • Yes
    • Tried, but unable to
    • No
  • Were you able to submit a single HL7 message to the IIS Sandbox?
    • Yes
    • Tried, but unable to
    • No

*Videos are password protected. Registered students will receive the password.