Pass a value containing "<"

[TheWizardofInt]

I need to pass an XML value which contains a "<"

 

When I load the XML document containing "<", the program throws an error farther down the line, thinking that I have started a new node

 

Is there a way to pass this value, or do I have to change the character as part of error handling?

 

Here is an example of what I mean:

 

<Contacts>

<Contact Notes>

<RecID> DJDEWYDHD>/#</RecID>

<Notes> Here are some notes</Notes>

</Contact Notes>

</Contacts>

[PlausiblyDamp]

You should escape any non supported characters, for > use &gt and < for <

Also your XML isn't well formed anyway as you have a space in the tag name for

[TheWizardofInt]

The XML was just an example

 

WHen you say 'escape the non-supported characters', do you mean replace them with that sort of string, or do you mean that ">" will give me the character I want?

[PlausiblyDamp]

XML uses the standard HTML escape sequences for characters - just replace the non supported ones with the correct escaped character.

If you are using any of the built in xml support (XmlTextWriter etc) then this should be taken care of anyway.

[ZeroEffect]

I have a situation where a client doesn't want the character escaped. I am using XMLwriter and I can't seem to find a way to stop "&" from becoming "&amp". Is there a way to do this? This is really the onlyl character I need to do this with.

 

Thanks

 

Zeroeffect

[snarfblam]

When you encode the text into the XML, these characters should be escaped. When you read it back, you need to parse the escape sequences to get the original text.

 

XML isn't my strong suit, but a quick google search gave me this result, which explains how to encode/decode these escape sequences.

[PlausiblyDamp]

Could you explain why they don't want this to be escaped? This is how xml works and the fact the character is escaped should be transparent to the application itself as the underlying parser should be dealing with this.

[ZeroEffect]

I am told by them that that is how thier application reads and XML file. I have a feeling they are reading/loading the whole file to a string then parsing the data. I'll go at the again about correcting thier application.

 

I have the application that generates the XML they read that XML file. I wish I knew what they were using to read it.

 

Thanks

 

Zeroeffect

[PlausiblyDamp]

I am told by them that that is how thier application reads and XML file. I have a feeling they are reading/loading the whole file to a string then parsing the data. I'll go at the again about correcting thier application.

 

In that case they are probably not actually dealing with XML but their own XML-like syntax. If they are determined to reinvent the wheel on this one rather than use an existing and established way to do things then they are creating work for everyone.

 

I am assuming somewhere in the spec (or what passed for a spec) the client either requested or claimed to support xml - if they are doing it themselves and breaking on simple things like this then they probably have a whole load of other problems facing them (and you), plus they are technically not supporting xml and might even be in breach of the contract.

 

Depending on what they are after you might be able to use a CDATA section, however if they are struggling with a simple character escape sequence then I wouldn't hold my breath on them supporting this at all.