Escape sequences are used to transmit data that contains the same characters as encoding characters. Escape sequences are offset using the message's designated escape character. All fields for all import processors and messages support plain text formatted escape sequences.
According to the HL7 standard, the escape character is the third character specified in the MSH.2 field.
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For inbound messages, OnBase respects the escape character in the message's MSH.2 field. For example, suppose OnBase receives a message with the value A\T\B in a field mapped to a Keyword Type, and the third character in the message's MSH.2 field is \. The resulting Keyword Value would be A&B.
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For outbound messages, OnBase uses the escape character in the message template to encode special characters in Keyword Values and transcription text. To change the escape character used in outbound messages, modify the default value for the template's MSH.2 field. The default escape character in OnBase message templates is \.
Escape sequences must be balanced, meaning for every starting escape character there must be a corresponding ending escape character. If an unbalanced escape sequence is found, an error will be logged and the message will not be processed.
If an unknown escape sequence is found, the value will be imported as is. This way if the value is sent to another system, the receiving application can potentially handle the escape sequence correctly.