Daffodil supports this with the "stringAsXml" runtime property. Here is the page
describing the feature:
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/DAFFODIL/Proposal%3A+Embedded+XML+Strings
We also have some small tests/examples of schemas that are a useful reference:
https://github.com/apache/daffodil/tree/main/daffodil-test/src/test/resources/org/apache/daffodil/infoset/stringAsXml
- Steve
On 2026-02-12 04:14 PM, Busuttil (US), Brandon J via users wrote:
Greetings!
I’m looking for any assistance in developing a DFDL schema which handles a
particular use case. The schema needs to process a data block which is primarily
fixed format binary data, but also has embedded XML content of a known fixed
length within it.
We are looking to develop a DFDL schema which is capable of parsing and un-
parsing a mixed format data block so that the embedded XML content is output as
straight XML when parsing, and then serialized back to character data when being
un-parsed.
In the example below, we want to convert “TEXT” into an integer value, “DATA”
into an integer value, and then simply leave “<element1><element2>3</element2></
element1>” as XML. Note that the XML content is _a known fixed length_ string.
For example:
_Given the following input data…_
TEXTDATA<element1><element2>3</element2></element1>
_Create a DFDL schema that outputs the following XML…_
<?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”UTF-8”?>
<ns1:INTEGER1>1413830740</ns1:INTEGER1>
<ns1:INTEGER2>1145132097</ns1:INTEGER2>
<element1>
<element2>3</element2>
</element1>
_What we currently can do…_
At the moment we can parse the entire embedded XML content into a string, but
the problem is that DFDL is outputting the XML as escaped XML, and we want it to
output un-escaped XML. For example we want it to output
This:
<element1><element2>3</element2></element1>
Instead of this:
<element1><element2>3</element2></element1>
Thanks,
Brandon Busuttil
The Boeing Company | BDS | Autonomous Systems
Software Engineer, Maritime Undersea
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