& (Ampersand) causes XML problems

[mmunem]

Hi,

I am using Sugarcrm Version 4.5.1e (Build 1049). When I created a new contact and enter the ampersand character "&" in the name fields or if I type in "&", it is stored simply as "&". This causes problems with our xml phone directories (Cisco 7940).

e.g.

I created a new contact: Firstname: Jane. Lastname: & Doe

The Cisco phones throw up CFXML errors and if I try and access the directory url, I get this error (in Firefox):

e.g. http://10.10.10.10/cisco/services/PhoneDirectory.php

//begin//

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: http://10.10.10.10/cisco/services/PhoneDirectory.php
Line Number 5, Column 8:<Name>& Doe, Jane</Name>
-------^

/begin/

Now if I manually edit the database record and change the & to Jane &amp; Doe, it works find.

[Angel]

Sounds like you found a problem with in the Cisco stuff in that they are not XML exconding the data when they retrieve it.

Have you reported the problem to Cisco?

[sacramentojoe]

Hi,

I am using Sugarcrm Version 4.5.1e (Build 1049). When I created a new contact and enter the ampersand character "&" in the name fields or if I type in "&amp;", it is stored simply as "&". This causes problems with our xml phone directories (Cisco 7940).

e.g.

I created a new contact: Firstname: Jane. Lastname: & Doe

The Cisco phones throw up CFXML errors and if I try and access the directory url, I get this error (in Firefox):

e.g. http://10.10.10.10/cisco/services/PhoneDirectory.php

//begin//

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: http://10.10.10.10/cisco/services/PhoneDirectory.php
Line Number 5, Column 8:<Name>& Doe, Jane</Name>
-------^

/begin/

Now if I manually edit the database record and change the & to Jane &amp; Doe, it works find.

Yeah, & is not a valid XML character.
it should be &amp;

[mmunem]

Yeah, & is not a valid XML character.
it should be &amp;

Can you offer any advice on automatically storing any entered "&" character as "&amp;" in the backend mysql table?

[Angel]

PHP offers a function that will URL encode it for you, which might be sufficient for your needs.

Further info is available here: http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.urlencode.php

Keep in mind that you'll have to do the reverse to decode it, otherwise Sugar will display it as &amp; too...