Aren't XPath facilities sufficient here?

outputValueCalc="{   if (fn:string-length(../s) lt 64) then fn:concat(../s, xs:string(xs:hexBinary('00'))) else ../s   }"

Regards

Steve Hanson
Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL)
Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group
IBM SWG, Hursley, UK
smh@uk.ibm.com
tel:+44-1962-815848



From:        Tim Kimber/UK/IBM@IBMGB
To:        Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl@gmail.com>,
Cc:        dfdl-wg@ogf.org, dfdl-wg-bounces@ogf.org
Date:        05/12/2012 10:51
Subject:        Re: [DFDL-WG] DFDL character entities in DFDL expressions
Sent by:        dfdl-wg-bounces@ogf.org

---

I think the restriction was aimed at avoiding things like this:

outputValueCalc="{   if (fn:string-length(../s) lt 64) then fn:concat(../s, '%#rFF;') else ../s   }"

I agree that a total ban is too restrictive. My personal preference would be for the dfdl:string() function because it makes the usage of DFDL-specific features obvious in the DFDL expression. But what would be the return type of dfdl:string()? It it returned a sequence of characters then the raw byte entity ( %#rnn; ) would still need to be disallowed.
regards,

Tim Kimber, DFDL Team,
Hursley, UK
Internet:  kimbert@uk.ibm.com
Tel. 01962-816742  
Internal tel. 37246742




From:        Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl@gmail.com>
To:        dfdl-wg@ogf.org,
Date:        04/12/2012 23:36
Subject:        [DFDL-WG] DFDL character entities in DFDL expressions
Sent by:        dfdl-wg-bounces@ogf.org

---

We currently have this language in the spec:

"Within an expression, a string is never interpreted as a DFDL string literal."

To me this means one cannot use DFDL character entities in an expression.

However, I need to do this:

        outputValueCalc="{   if (fn:string-length(../s) lt 64) then fn:concat(../s, '%NUL;') else ../s   }"

Basically, I need to append a NUL on the end of the string in the output value case.

Unless I can put a %NUL; into an expression and have it interpreted as a DFDL String literal,  I am not sure how I can achieve this.

At minimum I need a new DFDL function which might be an alternate string constructor, such as dfdl:string('....') which interprets the argument as something where the contents are to be scanned for DFDL character entities and they are substituted so that the resulting string can contain the characters that are disallowed in XML. (like NUL)

--
Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL WG Co-Chair | Tresys Technologies
Tel:  781-330-0412

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