The SEF File

While you can use the EDI to XML module to convert individual EDI documents to XML, the module's main purpose is to allow you to develop a set of conversion settings that can be captured and then reused to convert to XML other EDI documents with the same structure. These settings are saved in a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file (.sef) that is created when you save your work in the EDI to XML editor.

The SEF file contains information about any EDI definitions that you might have imported and changed, as well as changes to the XML Converter properties default values. The structure information for supported EDI dialects and versions remains with the XML Converter, ensuring that the SEF file remains very small.

Once you create a SEF file, you can use it to convert other EDI documents in one of these ways: