how to address repeated fields

[geezer78]

hi there,

i've been trying to address repeated fields but this seems not to work.

given the following example message:
MSH|^~\&|ZIS|Testziekenhuis^Capelle ad IJssel|||20080917161411||ADT^A08^ADT_A01|CLV1-1649|P|2.4|||AL|NE|NLD|8859/1|NL EVN|A08|20080917161412 PID|1||7137542^^^^PI~123456782^^^NLMINBIZA^NNNLD^^20080917~AA1234567^^^NLMINBIZA^PPN^^20080917||van Testpatiënt-van het Hek&van&Testpatiënt&van het&Hek^Jeanet^L M G^^^^L~^Jannie^^^^^N||19600101|F|||Dorpsweg 16&Dorpsweg&16^^Groningen^^9737AA^NL^M||050-1234567^PRN^PH|||M|||||||Assen|N|||||""|N ROL|1|UP|PP^Primary Care Provider|01001234^Huisarts^H^^^^^^Vektis^L|||||01^Huisartsen^Vektis||Straatweg 2&Straatweg&2^^Groningen^^9723AA^^O|050-3134102^WPN^PH~^NET^X.400^800013630 PV1|1|I|6-SCU^6^1^Neurologie|R|||041623^Specialist&&Specialist^S^^^^^^^L||||||||||043213^Opnamearts&&Opnamearts^O^^^^^^^L||12344321|||||||||||||||||||||||||20080917161412 PV2|||E75.4^Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis^I9||||||20080919 IN1|1|^Zorg-op-maat polis^LOCAL|123456^^^Vektis|CZ-GROEP|POSTBUS 90152&POSTBUS&12^^TILBURG^^5200LD^^O||010-2881600^WPN^PH|||||20010101
i try to access PID.3.2.1 which should return "123456782" but i get '' .

i've worked around this by implementing my own function:

 /**
   * Parses an HL7 message based on the provided field references.
   *
   * This function navigates through the HL7 message segments, fields, repetitions, components,
   * and subcomponents as per the given `references` and returns the corresponding value.
   *
   * @param {Message} message - The HL7 message object to parse.
   * @param {IFieldReference} references - Object containing references to segment, field, repetition, component, and subcomponent.
   * @returns {string} - The parsed HL7 message value based on the provided references.
   * @throws Will throw an error if message parsing fails or if any referenced element is not found.
   *
   * Example usage:
   * ```typescript
   * const messageValue = messageParser(hl7Message, {
   *   segment: 'PID',
   *   field: 5,
   *   repetition: 1,
   *   component: 1,
   *   subcomponent: 1
   * });
   * console.log(messageValue);
   * ```
   */
  public messageParser = (message: Message, references: IFieldReference): string => {
    try {
      const segment = message.get(references.segment);
      const field = segment.get(references.field);
      const repeatsArray = field.toArray();
      const repeat = repeatsArray[parseInt(references.repetition, 10) - 1];
      const component = repeat.get(references.component);

      // If the component is valid and not an empty node, check for subcomponent
      if (component && !(component instanceof EmptyNode)) {
        const subcomponent = component.get(references.subcomponent).toString();
        return subcomponent || component.toString();
      }

      // If component is empty, return the repeat value as string
      return repeat.toString();
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Error in messageParser: ", error.message);
      throw error;
    }
  };

to step through the path but i think the problem stems from
the field.js file :

/** @internal */
    read(path) {
        if (this.children.length > 0) {
            return this.children[0].read(path);
        }
        return this;
    }

if im am correct this part contains a hardcoded ref to the first repetition

[Bugs5382]

@geezer78 So just seeing this now, but yes, #181 , #14, and #33 were reported the issue. #181 is the newest were I solved the issue on how to interprut reptaing fields. (This should have been an issue so I could have discovered this sooner.) Let me see if I can merge your changes into #182 and solve this issue for good.

[Bugs5382]

This:

message.get("PID.3").get(1).get(0).toString()

Should solve the trick.