XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Luca Passani <passani AT eunet.no>]

Michael Kay wrote:
> You can write it as € if you really want to. But why on earth would
> you want to use something that looks just like an entity reference but isn't
> one? 
>   

because, in this framework (WURFL), an XML file is the core of a simple 
DB to store strings. Usually those strings are not entities, but 
yesterday I happened to need to store a string which looked identical to 
an XML entity.

> Every technology sucks if you misuse it. 
what should I have done in 2002 when I started the project? decide that 
XML was not good for me because maybe one day this XML file may have to 
contain a string which could be confused with an XML entity?


> I've got a brand new digital camera
> and it's no good at hammering nails. Perhaps the problem is with the user,
> not with the technology?
WURFL is a very successful project in its field. Thousands of developers 
around the planet have been able to download it and use it out of the 
box without much trouble. Anyway, the problem is solved. I now know how 
to escape those "things". I always knew that & escapes &, but for 
some reason I was assuming that the XML parser would return "€" 
as "€" (and not as "€" which is what I want).
Please observe that declaring the entity is not possible, because the 
WURFL model is such that a developer can throw any kind of property 
inside WURFL without changing anything else, and legitimately expect to 
find it at a later stage.

Thank you for your interest in the problem.

Luca