Why We Validate EDI Messages Locally in Your Browser
A despatch advice is not just a technical file. It contains your part numbers, your customer's plant codes, delivery quantities and dates - effectively your order book with that customer. A delivery forecast is even more sensitive: it reveals the OEM's production planning. Uploading such files to a random online validator is a data-leak risk most suppliers never think about.
How this site works instead
Every parser on VDA EDI Tools is written in TypeScript and runs entirely in your browser:
- The message you paste (or the file you drop) is read by JavaScript on your machine.
- Parsing, code-list checks, date checks and the report rendering all happen locally.
- No message content is sent to any server - there is no upload endpoint at all.
You can verify this yourself: open the browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and validate a large message. You will see no request carrying your data.
Why not a server-side API?
A server API would be easier to build and easier to monetise - but it would make us a processor of your confidential business data, with all the NDAs, DPAs and security reviews that implies. For a quick structural sanity check, that trade-off makes no sense. Local validation gives you:
- Zero data exposure - works for files under NDA without legal review.
- Offline capability - once loaded, the page works without a network connection.
- Instant feedback - no upload latency even for multi-megabyte interchanges.
When you still need a full EDI pipeline
Local validation answers "is this file structurally right?". It does not replace your EDI provider: transmission (OFTP2/AS2), partner-specific mapping, acknowledgements and monitoring belong in your productive EDI stack. Use the validator as the fast, free pre-flight check in front of it - especially during onboarding, mapping changes, or when a customer reports a rejection and you want to reproduce the problem in seconds.