[thelist] invalid characters

[MarsHall]

Good morning Stevenson...

On Wednesday, Nov 27, 2002, at 00:27 US/Central, Stevenson Ngila wrote:
> is there a way of identifying invalid characters in XML before saving
> stuff
> to the DB.

Yes. The best concept to focus on is simply avoiding invalid
characters. Make sure that *all* elements of your application are set
use the same encoding, such as: the XML, the HTML [& forms], any XSLTs,
the database...

> How can i prevent this? am using encording but doesn't help with
> certain
> characters.

When all of the application components are using the same encoding, you
should not see any problems, but just one component set to a different
encoding (without character set translation before and after that
component) can throw a wrench in the works.

If you still have issues with rogue characters, please give us more
technical details about your problem:
	- platform/OS
	- scripting language
	- database type
	- what char encoding are you using?
	- what chars are problematic?

Mars :)