Re: Why is < illegal in an attribute value but the equivalent hex and decimal character entities are legal?

Dimitre Novatchev <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.text.xml.devel
Message-ID <CAK4KnZcgKA6Tj_kX8yq41GvKe=jXrnJTHcmoizxAOvzftyrW+Q@mail.gmail.com>
>  I think we're looking for code that takes a string containing "&#x41;"
as input and does a run-time conversion, not something that hard-codes 0x41
in C source code.

Well, something like this (C#):

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/types/how-to-convert-between-hexadecimal-strings-and-numeric-types

On Wed, Mar 16, 2022 at 5:57 PM Michael Kay <[email protected]> wrote:

> I think we're looking for code that takes a string containing "&#x41;" as
> input and does a run-time conversion, not something that hard-codes 0x41 in
> C source code.
>
> And it's only going to be useful if it handles any legal character entity,
> including non-BMP characters.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
>
> On 17 Mar 2022, at 00:41, Dimitre Novatchev <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > 3. (Extra credit) Do you have C code that converts a hex or decimal
> character entity to its character? E.g., &#x41 --> C code --> 'A'
>
> Just cast to char:
>
> (char)0x41
>
> (char)65
>
>
>
> <image.png>
>
> Thanks,
> Dimitre
>
> On Wed, Mar 16, 2022 at 4:00 PM Roger L Costello <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> For the parser that I am building I need to be sure that I know exactly
>> what can (and can't) go within an attribute value. For example, can an
>> attribute value contain &amp;? (Yes) Can an attribute value contain the
>> greater-than symbol? (Yes)
>>
>> I created tests to see what characters are legal and what are illegal in
>> an attribute value. See below.
>>
>> Questions:
>> 1. Why is it that < is illegal but the equivalent hex and decimal
>> character entities are legal?
>> 2. Are there unusual things that are legal (or illegal) to put in an
>> attribute value? For instance, you can't put a CDATA section or a PI in an
>> attribute value, right?
>> 3. (Extra credit) Do you have C code that converts a hex or decimal
>> character entity to its character? E.g., &#x41 --> C code --> 'A'
>>
>> <Tests>
>>     <Test foo="&amp;"/>         <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&lt;"/>                  <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&gt;"/>          <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&quot;"/>        <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&apos;"/>        <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="'"/>                     <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="""/>                      <!-- Error -->
>>     <Test foo="<"/>                     <!-- Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x3C;"/>        <!-- x3C = < ........... Why is this
>> Okay? -->
>>     <Test foo="&#60;"/>         <!-- 60  = < ........... Why is this
>> Okay? -->
>>     <Test foo=">"/>                     <!-- Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x0;"/>         <!-- x0 = NUL ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1;"/>         <!-- x1 = SOH ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x2;"/>         <!-- x2 = STX ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x3;"/>         <!-- x3 = ETX ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x4;"/>         <!-- x4 = EOT ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x5;"/>         <!-- x5 = ENQ ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x6;"/>         <!-- x6 = ACK ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x7;"/>         <!-- x7 = BEL ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x8;"/>         <!-- x8 = BS ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x9;"/>         <!-- x9 = TAB ........... Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xA;"/>         <!-- xA = LF ........... Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xB;"/>         <!-- xB = VT ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xC;"/>         <!-- xC = FF ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xD;"/>         <!-- xD = CR ........... Okay -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xE;"/>         <!-- xE = SO ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#xF;"/>         <!-- xF = SI ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x10;"/>        <!-- x10 = DLE ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x11;"/>        <!-- x11 = DC1 ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x12;"/>        <!-- x12 = DC2 ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x13;"/>        <!-- x13 = DC3 ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x14;"/>        <!-- x14 = DC4 ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x15;"/>        <!-- x15 = NAK ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x16;"/>        <!-- x16 = SYN ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x17;"/>        <!-- x17 = ETB ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x18;"/>        <!-- x18 = CAN ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x19;"/>        <!-- x19 = EM ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1A;"/>        <!-- x1A = SUB ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1B;"/>        <!-- x1B = ESC ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1C;"/>        <!-- x1C = FS ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1D;"/>        <!-- x1D = GS ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1E;"/>        <!-- x1E = RS ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x1F;"/>        <!-- x1F = US ........... Error -->
>>     <Test foo="&#x20;"/>        <!-- x20 = Space ........... Okay -->
>> </Tests>
>>
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>
> --
> Cheers,
> Dimitre Novatchev
> ---------------------------------------
> Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
> ---------------------------------------
> To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
> -------------------------------------
> Never fight an inanimate object
> -------------------------------------
> To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the
> biggest mistake of all
> ------------------------------------
> Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
> -------------------------------------
> You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what
> you're doing is work or play
> -------------------------------------
> To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.
> -------------------------------------
> Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
> -------------------------------------
> Typing monkeys will write all Shakespeare's works in 200yrs.Will they
> write all patents, too? :)
> -------------------------------------
> Sanity is madness put to good use.
> -------------------------------------
> I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.
>
>
>
>

-- 
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
---------------------------------------
Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
---------------------------------------
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
-------------------------------------
Never fight an inanimate object
-------------------------------------
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the
biggest mistake of all
------------------------------------
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
-------------------------------------
You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what
you're doing is work or play
-------------------------------------
To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.
-------------------------------------
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
-------------------------------------
Typing monkeys will write all Shakespeare's works in 200yrs.Will they write
all patents, too? :)
-------------------------------------
Sanity is madness put to good use.
-------------------------------------
I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.
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