Epcis Message Event in R-COM Gateway
The EpcisMessage event type in R-COM Gateway is designed for handling complete EPCIS 2.0 documents as a single unit. It’s best used when you want to process a batch of EPCIS events together, without splitting or filtering them individually.
What is EpcisMessage?
When your system receives an EPCIS 2.0 document, for example, from a trading partner, a packaging line, or an upstream integration, EpcisMessage lets you process the entire document in one go. R-COM Gateway treats it as a single event and passes the complete payload into the workflow, exactly as it was received.
This is different from EpcisObject, which breaks up the document into individual events. With EpcisMessage, the structure, order, and batch context of the document are preserved.
When to Use It
Choose EpcisMessage when:
- You want to validate or archive the full EPCIS document.
- The order or grouping of events matters (e.g., traceability or compliance documents).
- You're dealing with bulk uploads from external sources (like a daily shipment manifest).
- You don’t need to take different actions based on individual events inside the file.
Common Use Cases
| Industry | Example |
|---|---|
| Pharma | Capture and archive serialized product movement in EPCIS format. |
| Logistics | Ingest EPCIS shipment events received from external warehouses. |
| Manufacturing | Process transformation or aggregation events as part of a full production batch. |
Input Format
R-COM Gateway expects a valid EPCIS 2.0 JSON-LD payload. This is an industry-standard format defined by GS1.
For more info on EPSIS 2.0 and JSON/JSON-LD bindings, refer to the document.
Example:
{
"@context": ["https://gs1.github.io/EPCIS/epcis-context.jsonld"],
"type": "EpcisDocument",
"epcisHeader": {
"sender": "ACME Corp.",
"creationDate": "2025-07-01T09:00:00Z"
},
"epcisBody": {
"eventList": [
{
"type": "ObjectEvent",
"eventTime": "2025-07-01T09:05:00Z",
"epcList": ["urn:epc:id:sgtin:0****41.*****.2017"],
"bizStep": "shipping",
"readPoint": { "id": "urn:epc:id:sgln:0614141.07346.1234" }
}
]
}
}
This entire document is passed into the workflow as-is.
How It Works in R-COM Gateway
- Configure a REST API route or MQTT topic with Epcis Message as the event type.
- Configure Event Rules with Epcis Message as the Trigger Type.
- Choose a workflow to trigger.
Now you can map the available EPCIS Event types to the available Workflow parameters.
| EPCIS Event Type | Data Type |
|---|---|
| EPCIS_AGGREGATION_EVENTS | List<Dictionary<String, Object>> |
| EPCIS_ASSOCIATION_EVENTS | List<Dictionary<String, Object>> |
| EPCIS_OBJECT_EVENTS | List<Dictionary<String, Object>> |
| EPCIS_TRANSACTION_EVENTS | List<Dictionary<String, Object>> |
| EPCIS_TRANSFORMATION_EVENTS | List<Dictionary<String, Object>> |
Inside the workflow, you can:
- Convert the file
- Validate or log the document
- Forward it to another system
- Store it in a database
- and more.
R-COM Gateway expects EPCIS documents in GS1 EPCIS 2.0 JSON-LD format, including @context and type fields. Plain JSON is not accepted.
Comparison: EpcisMessage vs. EpcisObject
| Feature | EpcisMessage | EpcisObject |
|---|---|---|
| Processes the full document | ✅ Yes | ❌ Splits into individual events |
| Filters individual events | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Best for batch ingestion | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Not ideal |
| Per-event logic | ❌ Not supported | ✅ Fully supported |
| Preserves event grouping | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |