encoding newlines in attribute values

[Douglas Otis]

On Apr 20, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Johnny Bufu wrote:

>
> On Apr 19, 2007, at 10:46 AM, Josh Hoyt wrote:
>> 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?
>
> So are you proposing that AX only accepts strings without newline
> characters in them, and the encoding to such a string should be
> handled by the parties who actually consume the attributes, according
> to the type / metadata specs?
>
> This would be nice and simple for the AX itself, however it would
> require everyone defining attributes to also define a 'encoding to
> strings without newlines' for them.

The use of base64 can be confined to individual elements within an  
attribute where newlines are _not_ affected.  There should be a  
standardized template for declaring base64 encoding starts with 'X'  
and ends with 'Y';