[Laszlo-dev] LZX Javascript expression encoding

[Max Carlson]

Is there a reason we don't automatically wrap JavaScript expressions 
with a CDATA tag in the tag compiler?  ACurrently, LZX JavaScript 
expressions have to look like this:

<method name="foo">
    if (narg &lt; 1 &amp;&amp; bar == foo) blarg;
</method>
Adding a CDATA tag makes for much more readable source:

<method name="bar"><![CDATA[
    if (narg < 1 && bar == foo) blarg;
]]></method>

Both of these methods currently end up compiling to:

if (narg < 1 && bar == foo) blarg;

We could add the CDATA tag automatically if it's missing.  Adding 
missing CDATA tags in LZX has a huge quality of life benefit of escaping 
< and & in LZX methods.

Making this change would also resolve encoding issues, like 
http://jira.openlaszlo.org/jira/browse/LPP-1948.  This bug shows a 
difference in swf and DHTML rendering would be fixed with this change. 
Here's some simplified LZX from the bug report:

<canvas>
    <method name="foo">
        canvas.boo.setText('herring &lt; bobby');
    </method>

    <method name="bar"><![CDATA[
        canvas.boo.setText('herring &lt; bobby');
    ]]></method>
</canvas>

Running 'lzc -runtime=swf7 --script' produces this javascript 
(simplified again):

#file cdata_text_testcase.lzx
#line 6

                canvas.boo.setText('herring &lt; bobby');
        
#endContent

...

#file cdata_text_testcase.lzx
#line 2

                canvas.boo.setText('herring < bobby');
        
#endContent

Wrapping expressions in CDATA tags if they don't already have one It 
seems like a fairly straightforward XML transformation.  What are your 
thoughts?

--
Regards,
Max Carlson
OpenLaszlo.org