encoding newlines in attribute values

[Douglas Otis]

On Apr 19, 2007, at 10:46 AM, Josh Hoyt wrote:

> On 4/19/07, Marius Scurtescu <marius at sxip.com> wrote:
>> I think we do need pre-URL-encoding, mainly because of signatures.  
>> In order to calculate the signature the parameters must be put  
>> together in a special way and new line characters are not allowed.
>
> Yes. The key-value encoding that's used for POST responses (to  
> associate and check_authentication) is also used in signature  
> generation. This is the source of the restriction on newlines in  
> values, not anything to do with URL encoding.
>
> Each attribute already has to define its encoding rules and data- 
> type. The mechanism for encoding a newline can be part of this  
> encoding, if newlines are allowed in the value. Once there is one  
> attribute that has a defined encoding for newline, when new  
> attributes are defined, they can re-use this encoding. Does that  
> sound reasonable?

That sounds fair, however consistent encoding methods with a  
standardized syntax should be recommended.

Elements like icons, voice, signatures blobs could adopt some type of  
standardized an overlay template.

-Doug