xml-dev - DOM & Entities

[Leigh Dodds <ldodds@ingenta.com>]

Hi,

I'd like some clarification for how DOM handles entities. The 
spec suggests that entities are resolved into their text 
equivalent ("...are replaced by the single character that 
makes up the entities equivalent..."). 

I'm curious as to how this is handled with entities such as those 
used in mathematical equations, or accented characters, or 
other special characters that aren't strictly 'plain text'?

I'm writing an XML processing application which reads in an 
XML document, performs some processing (based on another 
XML 'rules' document) and then produces a final XML document.
Ideally I'd like the entities retained from start to finish, so 
that I can be sure that they survive the transformation unchanged.
But I'm unclear how I can ensure this? Will I have to wrap all 
entity references in CDATA sections before parsing?

Incidentally I plan on using the IBM xml4j parser and its DOM 
implementation

Tips, comments, clarifications welcomed.

L.

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    "Never Do With More, What Can Be Achieved With Less"
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Leigh Dodds                             Eml:  ldodds@ingenta.com
ingenta ltd                             Tel:  +44 1225 826619
BUCS Building, University of Bath       Fax:  +44 1225 826283
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