[OpenAjaxIDE] HTML/JavaScript encoding for variable substitution

[Jon Ferraiolo]

Right now we have both property substitution using @@foo@@ syntax and
localization substitution using %%bar%%. Kin has asked if we can extend the
syntax to take into account the fact that a given substitution string might
appear within HTML content (which has its own syntax quirks) and other
times within JavaScript (with its own syntax quirks). I promised to send an
email with a proposal.

Here is what I propose - add two optional parenthetical prefixes,
(htmlchars) and (jschars) to variable references, where:

(htmlchars) transforms the substitution string to the following
replacements (aligns with PHP's htmlspecialchars()):

& with &
< with &lt;;
> with &gt;;
" with &quot;
' with &#039;

(jschars) transforms the substitution string to the following replacements
(aligns with PHP's addslashes()):

\ with \\
' with \'
" with \"

To illustrate (htmlchars), suppose your have:

<content>@@(htmlchars)remark@@</content>

and the user entered the following for the remark property: << I'm in love!
>>

then the resulting content would be: &lt;&lt;  I&#039;m in love! &gt;&gt;

To illustrate (jschars), suppose you have:

<javascript>document.getElementById
('textfield').value='@@(jschars)remark@@';</javascript>

then the resulting JavaScript would be: document.getElementById
('textfield').value='<< I\'m in love! >>';

I propose a variable reference can have either (htmlchars) or (jschars) or
neither, but not both.

Comments?

Jon
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