Advanced Experian QAS API Configuration

The following features are intended for use by advanced users of Experian QAS or EDQ administrators only. These features involve editing the QAWorld.ini configuration file which is part of the QAS installation, and require some familiarity with customizing the Experian QAS Batch API.

Note that the EDQ application service must be restarted on the server for these changes to take effect.

Creating Your Own Layout

It is possible to create your own layout for use by the Experian QAS Batch API, for example to use the API with newly purchased data sets from Experian QAS, or to change the format in which addresses are returned by the API. The easiest method is to copy an existing layout found in the QAWorld.ini file and to edit the copy. Ensure the new layout has a new name, that the address line count matches the number of address lines specified, and the number of output attribute mappings match the number of address lines.

The number of address lines may be changed. This may either be because you want to output selected information only, or because you want to group address elements onto single lines. In the example, address elements P22, P21, P12 and P11 will be output on the same attribute. If a record has more that one of these address elements they will all appear in the same address line, for instance as 'Unit1, Cornwall House'.

See the Experian QAS Batch API documentation for the codes and meanings of the address line elements output by the API.

Example user created layout:

[GBR ADD STAND]
CountryBase=GBR
CleaningAction=Address
AddressLineCount=7
AddressLine1=W40,P22,P21,P12,P11
AddressLine2=W40,S11
AddressLine3=W40,L41
AddressLine4=W40,L31
AddressLine5=W40,L21
AddressLine6=W40,L11
AddressLine7=W40,C11
SeparateElements=Yes
ElementSeparator={, } C11{ ^ } P11{, ^ } P21{, ^ } X11{ ^ } A11{ ^ }
CapitaliseItem=L21

Using Mixed International Data

To use the Experian QAS API to check addresses in a mixed international data set against several national address files, you can either use the existing [ALL] layout in the QAWorld,ini file (to do this, simply remove the first character of each line from the [ALL] section), or you could create your own international layout.

For an international layout, the CountryBase line needs to list the 3-character ISO codes of the required countries:

[ALL]

CountryBase=NUL GBR DEU LUX ESP DNK NLD FRA

The use of the initial code 'NUL' has the following implications:

Table 1-132 Using Mixed International Data

NUL used in CountryBase	ISO present on input row	Result	Configuration Uses
No	No	Uses first ISO code defined in the `CountryBase`.	Where the data is largely from one country (which should be the first country listed), but there may be other country data in the dataset
No	Yes	Uses input ISO code.
Yes	Yes	Uses input ISO code.	For mixed international data, which has ISO country codes
Yes	No	EDQ will not be able to find data for that country, MatchCode 'D' returned.	For mixed international data, which has ISO country codes