HL7 v3 (XML) importer in python

[lkcl]

this is to let people know that there exists the beginnings of an HL7v3 python project, thanks to john paulett's fantastic work creating an HL7v2 parser. read here for the announcement:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pyt...t/1251987.html
and here for the code:
http://github.com/lkcl/hl7

the code makes use of mirthcorp.com published HL7 specifications (in XML file format) to create revision-dependent segment and field parsers. the implications are that even one person can keep the hl7 python module relevant and up-to-date with the latest HL7 specifications, as long as mirthcorp continue to publish the XML files.

added on top of john's excellent work is a python-style interface of properties. so, it is possible to do this:
p = hl7.PID
print "patient", p.patient_id_internal_id, \
p.patients_name.family_name,
p.patients_name.given_name

the names of the properties are auto-generated directly from mirthcorp's XML specifications. ORCs are matched with ORBs via the filler order number, so it is possible to do "hl7.ORC[0].ORB"; ORCs and ORBs are both given a property of ORX, so it is possible to do "hl7.ORC[0].ORB.ORX[3]"; NTEs are also supported if they exist.

hope this is useful to someone. anyone wishing to either contribute or sponsor the work for use in any project, please do contact me.

l.