HL7 Message Inspector

The HL7 Message Inspector parses HL7 v2.x messages to expose segment structure, field values, encoding details, and datatype hints. It accepts a raw HL7 message and optional version hints, then outputs a structured representation that highlights MSH, PID, OBX and other segments, along with field values and datatypes inferred from HL7 conventions. The tool treats delimiters from MSH-2 (field separator, component separator, repetition separator, escape character, subcomponent separator) and recognizes common patterns such as repeating segments and nested fields.\n\nCore logic identifies segments by carriage return delimiters, splits each segment into fields, and then parses field values into native types where possible (dates, numerics, coded values). Required features include HL7 string input, segment/field extraction, and a machine-readable output; optional features include datatype hints, cross-field checks, error annotation with precise positions, and export to JSON or CSV for downstream pipelines.\n\nAudience includes integration developers, data engineers, QA testers, and healthcare IT analysts who validate and map HL7 messages to internal schemas or to FHIR adapters. Unique differentiators include explicit field-level context, robust handling of missing or misordered segments, and ready-to-export structures that support automation, testing, and quality gates in hospital information systems.\n\nUse cases include validating inbound messages from a laboratory system, mapping HL7 fields to a data warehouse schema, debugging encoding misconfigurations, and preparing data for ETL pipelines. The tool emphasizes speed, determinism, and clear error reporting to reduce debugging time in production environments, while remaining agnostic to specific vendor implementations.