Re: [xml-dev] Error and Fatal Error

[Stephen D Green <stephengreenubl@gmail.com>]

If only it were that simple, Toby.

 

The problem is that there are tags in the strings - it is XML.

System.Security.SecurityElement.Escape and HtmlEncode

would change the angle brackets in the tags too.

 

It comes down to this: If you want to handle a string in code

as a string don't let XML get anywhere near it. Once you

turn it into anything like XML you will have to cater for endless

overheads if you ever have to parse it as a string and then

later as XML again.

The danger now to the app is that the use of XML internally

has bound that app to all sorts of unexpected complexities

which might make it expensive to maintain (in terms of the

skills required for developers hired to maintain it). That's the

real truth about the cost of implementation of XML - it is

higher many expect and can be a gotcha which causes

grief.

 

I do think the W3C could aleviate this cost of implementation

though. MicroXML might be one way; improved parser

conformance requirements another. It probably comes down

to bottom line considerations though like 'Who would pay for

this?'. So I'll stick with it as it is, warts and all, and hope

developer colleagues are willing to put up with the challenges.

 

----

Stephen D Green

On 18 July 2011 16:19, Toby Considine <Toby.Considine@gmail.com> wrote:

As the originator is a .NET programmer

String nodeValue = System.Security.SecurityElement.Escape(inputValue)

Should handle all his input problems....


There are other similar methods such as HtmlEncode, catching an XmlWriter
stream, or even serial substitutions in a single overloaded line.



"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not
become a monster, and if you stare long into an abyss, the abyss also stares
into you."   - Fredrich Nietzche

Toby Considine
TC9, Inc
TC Chair: oBIX & WS-Calendar
TC Editor: EMIX, EnergyInterop
U.S. National Inst. of Standards and Tech. Smart Grid Architecture Committee

  
Email: Toby.Considine@gmail.com
Phone: (919)619-2104
http://www.tcnine.com/
blog: www.NewDaedalus.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Kay [mailto:mike@saxonica.com]
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 7:37 AM
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Error and Fatal Error

> 2) some say if XML has illegal characters it is not XML but I say -
> then why does the spec talk about errors in the XML (if the XML had
> errors, then by that reasoning it wouldn't be XML, ...)

If you're going to get legalese about it, then:

(a) XML is a language defined in a specification.

(b) A document is not a language, so a document is never XML; nor can "an
XML" contain illegal characters, nor can "the XML" contain errors.

(c) The XML language specification defines what it means for a piece of text
to be a "well-formed XML document". It's a slightly unfortunate term,
because it's easy to imagine that it implies the existence of XML documents
that are not well-formed. But that would be a misreading of the spec: no
such category exists.

(d) The specification never talks about "errors in the XML". That would be a
contradiction in terms. The specification in fact doesn't give a name to the
thing that has errors, though it would be reasonable to talk about "errors
in the input to the XML processor".

Michael Kay
Saxonica

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