System.Xml.XmlException: Reference to undeclared entity 'AMP'. Line 88, position 68

Question

I am getting the follow error, but not sure how to resolve it:

System.Xml.XmlException: Reference to undeclared entity 'AMP'. Line 88, position 68.

I found this section in the xml:

<AddressData city="TYNE &AMP; WEAR">
    <addressLine>123 Orange Rd.</addressLine>
    <addressLine></addressLine>
</AddressData>

The xml is actually being created dynamically, but when I stepped through it, I noticed that it is coming back as Tyne & Wear, but it is being uppercased which I have no idea why. There is a utility routing called XmlEncode that does the following, but not sure it would cover the above scenario.

s.Replace("&", "&amp;").Replace("<", "&lt;").Replace(">", "&gt;").Replace("'", "&apos;").Replace("""", "&quot;")

Could we see the relevant code and/or data which is causing the Exception? — MikeBaker, Aug 15 '11 at 15:45
Show your XML which seems to be invalid, or if the file is too large show what you have on line 88. — Darin Dimitrov, Aug 15 '11 at 15:46
@Steven and Mike - I am getting the xml. I will post it when I get a chance. — Xaisoft, Aug 15 '11 at 15:46
XaiSoft: Yes, unless you have declared the entity "AMP". By default, XML only has five entities: `amp`, `quot`, `apos`, `lt`, `gt`. — Anders Lindahl, Aug 15 '11 at 15:52
Looks like the program is trying to build an XML document by concatenating strings, and this is exactly the kind of bugs you'll run into. Build it using a DOM instead, check out the answers to this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/284324/what-is-the-best-way-to-build-xml-in-c-code — Anders Lindahl, Aug 15 '11 at 17:01
It looks like the entire `city` attribute is being uppercased somewhere; that's probably what's doing it. — Jacob, Aug 15 '11 at 17:01
@Anders, yes that is exactly the way it is doing it. It is doing it with string builder, but I can't change it now. How can I change the XmlEncode to return &amp instead of &AMP — Xaisoft, Aug 15 '11 at 17:06

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '11 at 15:47

6

It sounds like the xml input contains an upper-cased &. XML character entities are case-sensitive.

answered Aug 15 '11 at 15:47

Anders Lindahl

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I am trying to get the xml. I actually don't have it, but as soon as I get it, I will let you know. Thank you so far. – Xaisoft Aug 15 '11 at 15:50

System.Xml.XmlException: Reference to undeclared entity 'AMP'. Line 88, position 68

1 Answers1