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 -- dfdl-wg mailing list dfdl-wg@ogf.org https://www.ogf.org/mailman/listinfo/dfdl-wg 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