For discussion on DFDL WG call. Please find proposal from IBM to clarify the allowable characters that be used in some of the DFDL properties that are defined as type 'DFDL String Literal'. It is proposed that the properties in question do not need the full power of DFDL String Literal. escaping ( single character ) escapeCharacter escapeEscapeCharacter escapeBlockStart escapeBlockEnd Property value must resolve to a single character DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is not allowed DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are not allowed padding ( single character or byte ) textStringPadCharacter textNumberPadCharacter textBooleanPadCharacter textCalendarPadCharacter Property value must resolve to a single character or a single byte value DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is allowed subject to the restrictions already documented for these properties DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are not allowed Number separators ( single character ) textStandardDecimalSeparator textStandardGroupingSeparator textStandardExponentCharacter Property value must resolve to a single character DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is not allowed DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are not allowed Number representations ( multiple characters ) textStandardInfinityRep textStandardNanRep textStandardZeroRep DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is not allowed DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are not allowed Boolean representations ( multiple characters ) textBooleanTrueRep textBooleanFalseRep DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is not allowed DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are not allowed Nil representations ( multiple characters/bytes ) nilValue DFDL character entities are allowed The raw byte entity ( %#r ) is allowed DFDL Character classes ( NL, WSP, WSP+, WSP*, ES ) are allowed 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 Unless stated otherwise above: IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number 741598. Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU