Delete OBX Segments

[MPollin0]

I have this code below that is turning specific OBX segments into NTEs, then appending the NTEs to the corresponding OBR. I am trying to delete the OBXs after I convert them, but am having issues trying to figure out the syntax to do that. Anyone have any ideas?

for(i=0; i<msg['OBR'].length(); i++){
    for each(obx in getSegmentsAfter(msg,msg.OBR[i],'OBX',false)){
	    if(obx['OBX.3']['OBX.3.2'].toString().indexOf('COMM') > -1){
		    newNTE = new XML('<NTE></NTE>');
		
		    if(obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString() != ''){
			    newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString()
		    }
		    else{
			    newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.1'].toString()
		    }
		    newNTE['NTE.7']['NTE.7.1'] = obx['OBX.14']['OBX.14.1'].toString()
		
		    msg['OBR'][i] += newNTE
	    }
    }
}

[rshirsagar555-lang]

You’re on the right track converting OBX segments to NTEs. To delete the OBX segments after processing, you need to remove them from the parent message structure. In Mirth’s JavaScript, you can do something like this inside your loop:

for(i = 0; i < msg['OBR'].length(); i++){
var obxList = getSegmentsAfter(msg, msg.OBR[i], 'OBX', false);
for(var j = obxList.length - 1; j >= 0; j--){ // loop backwards when removing
var obx = obxList[j];
if(obx['OBX.3']['OBX.3.2'].toString().indexOf('COMM') > -1){
// Create NTE as you already do
var newNTE = new XML('');
if(obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString() != ''){
newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString();
} else {
newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.1'].toString();
}
newNTE['NTE.7']['NTE.7.1'] = obx['OBX.14']['OBX.14.1'].toString();
msg['OBR'][i] += newNTE;
// Remove OBX after converting
obx.parentNode.removeChild(obx);
}
}
}

Key points:

1. Loop backwards through the OBX array when deleting items to avoid skipping elements.
2. Use obx.parentNode.removeChild(obx); to remove the segment from the XML.

This approach should cleanly convert your OBX segments to NTEs and delete the originals.

[pacmano1]

@rshirsagar555-lang did you test your code? Can you provide a before and after message showing it works? There are clearly mistakes in it.

Please also use code blocks. Your code should look like this from a formatting perspective (this code had mistakes though):

for (i = 0; i < msg['OBR'].length(); i++) {
    var obxList = getSegmentsAfter(msg, msg.OBR[i], 'OBX', false);
    for (var j = obxList.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) { // loop backwards when removing
        var obx = obxList[j];
        if (obx['OBX.3']['OBX.3.2'].toString().indexOf('COMM') > -1) {
            // Create NTE as you already do
            var newNTE = new XML('');
            if (obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString() != '') {
                newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.2'].toString();
            } else {
                newNTE['NTE.1']['NTE.3.1'] = obx['OBX.5']['OBX.5.1'].toString();
            }
            newNTE['NTE.7']['NTE.7.1'] = obx['OBX.14']['OBX.14.1'].toString();
            msg['OBR'][i] += newNTE;
            // Remove OBX after converting
            obx.parentNode.removeChild(obx);
        }
    }
}

[rshirsagar555-lang]

Thanks for highlighting that 🙏.

I haven’t tested the code yet, it was more of a directional suggestion on the respective query. For reference, I was following the Mirth Connect documentation and community discussions around manipulating HL7 segments in JavaScript.

And regarding your note on using code blocks, I did try, but some parts of the code weren’t displaying properly. That’s why I ended up putting the snippet in a quote section instead, so at least the full logic was visible.