ABA generator

Generate ABA Files from Node.js and browser.

Notable:

• The minified version of this module is 4.2kb. No dependencies.
• The source code of aba-generator is quite easy to read, understand, and amend. We welcome any changes.

Changes between v1 and v2

• BREAKING: header options were options: { ...headerData }, become options: { header: headerData }.
• Added support of non-standard ABA files.

Usage

Installation

npm i -S aba-generator

Minimal example of sending money from your account:

const ABA = require("aba-generator");

const aba = new ABA({
  header: {
    bank: "ANZ", // The bank processing this file
    user: "Allowasa Pertolio Accounting&Tax", // Your (money sender) company name
    userNumber: 1234, // Your ID in the bank system, often hardcoded to some number. Consult with your bank
    description: "Credits Of The Wooloomooloo", // Description of the transactions within the file

    // Optional
    // bsb: String, // Main account BSB. Not in the ABA spec, but required by most banks
    // account: String, // Main account number. Not in the ABA spec, but required by most banks
    // date: Date|String|Number, // The date to be processed, default is now. If string must be DDMMYY format
    // time: Date|String|Number, // The time to be processed. Not in the ABA spec, but required by most banks. If string must be HHmm format
  },
});

const transaction = {
  bsb: "061021", // recipient's account BSB
  transactionCode: ABA.CREDIT,
  // indicates "you are sending money (debit), they are receiving (credit)". ABA.PAY works in the same way but with code 53
  account: "123456", // recipient's account number
  amount: 12.0, // Number|String sending amount the recipient will see in their bank account
  accountTitle: "Georgian Council of New South Wales", // recipient account name
  reference: "Invoice # 1234", // payment reference, will be visible to the recipient
  traceBsb: "061123", // your (sender) bank account BSB
  traceAccount: "1234567", // your (sender) bank account number
  remitter: "Acme Inc", // Your (sender) company name

  // Optional
  // tax: "N"|"W"|"X"|"Y"|" "|"", // Tax withholding indicator. Typically blank, meaning no tax. See ABA specification.
  // taxAmount: Number|String, // Tax amount. Typically 0.
};

const file = aba.generate([transaction]);

console.log(file);

Should print:

0                 01ANZ       Allowasa Pertolio Accounti001234Credits Of T180320
1061-021   123456 500000001200Georgian Council of New South WaInvoice # 1234    061-123  1234567Acme Inc        00000000
7999-999            000000120000000012000000000000                        000001                                        

which is a fully valid ABA file. Note spaces in the end of the first and last lines.

Every line in the ABA file must be 120 chars. So data like user, description, accountTitle, etc are truncated if too long.

Note

Even though the format is standardised, banks typically mandate some fields to be hardcoded.

ABA file specification

1. http://ddkonline.blogspot.com/2009/01/aba-bank-payment-file-format-australian.html
2. https://www.cemtexaba.com/aba-format/cemtex-aba-file-format-details
3. https://github.com/mjec/aba/blob/master/sample-with-comments.aba

API

new ABA(options)

Constructor options:

* @param [options] {Object} Header data.
* @param [options.header.bank] {String} Name of financial institution processing this file. 3 characters, like "ANZ", "WBC"
* @param [options.header.user] {String} How the user will be shown in the transactions of the third party banks.
* @param [options.header.userNumber] {Number} The ID of the user supplying the file.
* @param [options.header.description] {String} Description of this file entries. Up to 12 chars.
* @param [options.header.bsb=""] {String} Main account BSB. Should be ignored according to the specs.
* @param [options.header.date=Date.now()] {Date|Number} Date to be processed.
* @param [options.header.time] {Date|Number} Time to be processed. Should be ignored according to the specs.
* @param [options.header.account=""] {String} Main account number. Up to 9 chars. Should be ignored according to the specs.

* @param [options.footer.type="7"] {String} This is an auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.footer.bsb="999999"] {String} This is an auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.footer.netTotal] {String} This is an auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.footer.creditTotal] {String} This is an auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.footer.debitTotal] {String} This is auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.footer.numberOfTransactions] {String} This is an auto-generated field. But you can override it with anything.
* @param [options.schemas] { [key in RecordTypeNumber]?: RecordSchema } custom schemas

Custom transaction generating

You can add multiple custom schemas or replace default schemas to generate non-standard ABA files or those extended by a particular bank.

Keys description

N - is a string key with one character, that represents the first character in the ABA record, for default schemas ("0" - Descriptive Record (header), "1" - Detail Record (transaction), and "7" - File Total Record (footer)). Keep in mind that all ABA strings begin with this number and that the field name: "type" in the provided data and custom schema must be the same as N in the schema.

recordType - a string that identifies the batch's record type. Descriptive Record -> header; Detail Record -> transaction; File Total Record -> footer

name - the name of a field (amount, tax, etc.).

boundaries - array with 2 numbers, that specify the start and end of the field in the record string.

padding - Alignment within field size, can be left or right, and only for type string, default alignment is to the right

type - type of the field, provide the desired type to reformat the field.

Possible types:

string – trim spaces and return the string

money - convert cents to dollars and return the number.

integer - trim all 0 in the start and return the number

bsb - remove "-" and return the string

"" – retrieve the original string

customSchemas = {
  N: {
    recordType: "header" | "transaction" | "footer",
    fields: [
      {
        name: "string",
        boundaries: [number, number],
        type: "string" | "money" | "integer" | "bsb" | "",
        padding: "left",
      },
    ],
  },
};

const aba = new ABA({ header: headerData, schemas: customSchemas });

Attention! In order to generate standard footer you must have at least these transaction fields

fields: [
  { name: "transactionType", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" },
  { name: "transactionCode", boundaries: [18, 20], type: "integer" },
  { name: "amount", boundaries: [20, 30], type: "money" },
];

Custom schema use example

const customSchemas = {
  5: {
    recordType: "transaction",
    fields: [
      { name: "transactionType", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" }, // must be 5, same as schema number N
      { name: "bsb", boundaries: [1, 8], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "account", boundaries: [8, 17], type: "string" },
      { name: "transactionCode", boundaries: [18, 20], type: "integer" },
      { name: "amount", boundaries: [20, 30], type: "money" },
      { name: "traceBsb", boundaries: [80, 87], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "customString", boundaries: [120, 135], type: "string" },
      { name: "customInt", boundaries: [135, 140], type: "integer" },
      { name: "customBsb", boundaries: [140, 145], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "custom", boundaries: [145, 150], type: "" },
      { name: "customBsb", boundaries: [155, 160], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "customMoney", boundaries: [165, 170], type: "money" },
    ],
  },

  6: {
    recordType: "header",
    fields: [
      { name: "type", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" }, // must be 6, same as schema number N
      { name: "bsb", boundaries: [1, 8], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "account", boundaries: [8, 17], type: "string" },
      { name: "custom", boundaries: [145, 150], type: "" },
    ],
  },
};

const aba = new ABA({
  header: { type: "6", custom: "any", bsb: "123456", account: "12345678" }, // field "type" is requred
  schemas: customSchemas,
});

const batches = aba.generate([transactions]);

Default schemas

Here the list of standard schemas, you can rewrite them with custom types by using the same key

const defaultAbaSchemas = {
  0: {
    recordType: "header",
    fields: [
      { name: "type", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" },
      { name: "bsb", boundaries: [1, 8], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "account", boundaries: [8, 17], type: "string" },
      { name: "sequenceNumber", boundaries: [18, 20], type: "integer" },
      { name: "bank", boundaries: [20, 23], type: "string" },
      { name: "user", boundaries: [30, 56], type: "string", padding: "left" },
      { name: "userNumber", boundaries: [56, 62], type: "string" },
      { name: "description", boundaries: [62, 74], type: "string", padding: "left" },
      { name: "date", boundaries: [74, 80], type: "string" },
      { name: "time", boundaries: [80, 84], type: "string" },
      { name: "filler", boundaries: [84, 120], type: "string" }, // filler to match 120 char line size
    ],
  },

  1: {
    recordType: "transaction",
    fields: [
      { name: "transactionType", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" },
      { name: "bsb", boundaries: [1, 8], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "account", boundaries: [8, 17], type: "string" },
      { name: "tax", boundaries: [17, 18], type: "string" },
      { name: "transactionCode", boundaries: [18, 20], type: "integer" },
      { name: "amount", boundaries: [20, 30], type: "money" },
      { name: "accountTitle", boundaries: [30, 62], type: "string", padding: "left" },
      { name: "reference", boundaries: [62, 80], type: "string", padding: "left" },
      { name: "traceBsb", boundaries: [80, 87], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "traceAccount", boundaries: [87, 96], type: "string" },
      { name: "remitter", boundaries: [96, 112], type: "string", padding: "left" },
      { name: "taxAmount", boundaries: [112, 120], type: "money" },
    ],
  },

  7: {
    recordType: "footer",
    fields: [
      { name: "type", boundaries: [0, 1], type: "string" },
      { name: "bsb", boundaries: [1, 8], type: "bsb" },
      { name: "netTotal", boundaries: [20, 30], type: "money" },
      { name: "creditTotal", boundaries: [30, 40], type: "money" },
      { name: "debitTotal", boundaries: [40, 50], type: "money" },
      { name: "numberOfTransactions", boundaries: [74, 80], type: "integer" },
      { name: "filler", boundaries: [80, 120], type: "string" }, // filler to match 120 char line size
    ],
  },
};

In the end your code can look like this

const { ABA } = require("aba-generator");

const aba = new ABA({ header, schemas: { customSchema } });

const batch = aba.generate(transactions);

.generate(transactions)

Transactions schema. Most of the params are required as you can see.

 * Generate ABA file of these transactions.
 * @param transactions {Object[]} Transactions in the file
 * @param transactions[].bsb {String} The third party account BSB
 * @param [transactions[].tax=" "] {"N"|"W"|"X"|"Y"|" "|""}
 * @param transactions[].transactionCode {Number|ABA.CREDIT|ABA.DEBIT|ABA.PAY} Debit or credit? ABA.CREDIT or ABA.DEBIT or ABA.PAY
 * @param transactions[].account {String} The third party account number
 * @param transactions[].amount {String|Number}
 * @param transactions[].accountTitle {String} The third party (recipient) account name. Up to 32 chars.
 * @param [transactions[].reference] {String} Payment reference, e.g. "Invoice # 123". Up to 18 chars.
 * @param transactions[].traceBsb {String} The transacting account BSB
 * @param transactions[].traceAccount {String} The transacting account number
 * @param transactions[].remitter {String} The transacting company name.
 * @param [transactions[].taxAmount=0] {Number}
 * @return {String} The ABA file contents as a string.

TODO

• Input data validation

Credits

The module is based on this excellent work: https://github.com/ordermentum/aba

Changes: removed all runtime dependencies, added documentation and examples, simplified code infrastructure, fixed few bugs, added features.