UNallowable character use

Is there a guide, or list of the "special" characters that should not be used in Documentum user names, group/role names filenames(doc names) folder names, other attributes?

Forward slash is supposedly NG, what others should we avoid?

such as @ # % & * + = <>, ; : ?

The system we're replacing took certain characters as operators and really messed things up.

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XdctmX

https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg15720

Why should I avoid using Special Characters for attribute names in Documentum?



		ID:				esg15720



		Use Count:				86



		Date Created:				02/25/2002



		Date Modified:				04/23/2010



		Product(s):				Desktop Client



		Category(ies):				Usability



		Status:				Approved



		Related Bugs:

SOLUTION

This support note refers to the use of characters such as
- Dash
\ Slash
: Colon
* Asterix
? Question Mark
" Doublequotes
' Single Quotes
< > Less than/Greater than
| Pipe
% Percentage
( ) Brackets (Curly or Sqaure too.)
, comma
# (Hash/Pound Sign)
~ Tilda

In the section, Introducing the Dekstop Client 4.2.1, it states:

"Do not include these characters in the object name ": \ : * " ? < > |."

This is due to the fact that users have experienced problems in the past with attributes including these characters.

Let us take the example of API's that are comma delimited. This means that the arguments for a given API are strung together into a list and each argument is separated by a comma.

This list is then passed as one string (or two) to a function that communicates with the DMCL (Documentum's client library).

Special characters pose a problem in this instance when an API refers to an attribute containing a special character. This character is then misinterpreted. This means that the second half of the argument will also be misinterpreted as the next argument.

For example, SN 1399 refers to the dash (-), the colon (:), the apostrophe ('), the comma (,), the back slash (\), the percent (%) and the forward slash (/) preventing a folder from being found during a dump and load. The folder name in this instance contained a special characters.

Another example of this is with Fulltext editing or searching which may fail. By default, the underlying engine defines words to be broken by spaces, hyphens, slashes, etc. so a search for 'a-123' will not succeed as it is parsed into 'a' and '123'. Please refer to SN 15152 and SN 1253 for more information on this.

Documentum does not currently make checks for special characters when a document is checked in or an attribute containing these characters is created.
However it is possible to manipulate and retireve objects via existing workarounds.
If you have attributes containing special charaters that you would like to retrieve, you may refer to SN 10036 which provides details on how to retrieve these characters from an attribute.

If you need to pass an argument via Docbasic or Visual Basic, that contains a special character please refer to SN 4516.

The customer is advised to avoid the use of special characters in attributes and object names in Documentum. Names must begin with a character and the following characters can be letters, numeric digits, and underscores.

The index server does not index the following special characters and instead replaces them with white spaces in the index:

!@#$%^_,.&;:()-+=<

billthecat

Thank you for the reply, but I cannot get access to Powerlink for some reason, I can't get to the source doc you attached with a link (https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg15720) in your reply. Can you forward that doc via email?

billthecat

We've got 6.5 with Webtop.

What we're concerned with are the document name, and any document attributes. Which characters should be avoided?

You replied the index server doesn't take some special characters--will the inclusion of these special characters in an attribute that is searched on, cause a null search result?

DCTM_Guru

Whether you get null search result depends on what you are looking for. Since the special characters are replaced by white spaces, you search criteria should include white spaces as well.

So if your attribute value is "index-name", then if you want to get result hit, you will need to search for "index name", since special character is replaced by space.

billthecat

Thank you Johnny. But I still need a copy of the document referred to

in the first reply.

DCTM_Guru

What doc? If you valid powerlink acct, you can download it yourself.

billthecat

That's the problem, the Power link gurus aren't helping me get access,

and I have to get back to my boss with the list of disallowed

characters asap.

Is there any way you can mail me that document?

Here's the link from the first reply:

https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg15720

<https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg15720

DCTM_Guru

Unfortunately, no. Documentation is only available if you have valid support license and it is NOT freely distributable.