Character Restrictions in Values, Attributes and Files

We amend or remove certain characters from files or values to help keep SWOOP secure.

Illegal Character Restrictions

The table below shows illegal character restrictions. This applies to both the attribute name and value. This should apply to attributes from all data sources (e.g. uploaded by user, default or retrieved from Viva Engage).

Unicode Character	Example	Rule	How we handle it
Any character that is a letter or number	a-z A-Z 0-9	Allowed	Will keep this special character
All unicodes from 128 and upwards	See:	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Apostrophe	'	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Plus	+	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Forward slash	/	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Dash	-	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Underscore	_	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Ampersand	&	Allowed	Will keep this special character
At	@	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Open Round Bracket	(	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Closing Round Bracket	)	Allowed	Will keep this special character
Anything else	Example: < > $ ^ * # ~ % { }	Remove	Will be removed.
Control Characters	See: .	Remove	Will be removed.

Conversion Character Restrictions

The table below shows character restrictions that involve converting special characters to a legal option. This applies to both attribute name and value.

Unicode Character	Example	Rule	How We Handle It
Open Square Bracket	[	Convert to (	Will replace with open round bracket
Closing Square Bracket	]	Convert to )	Will replace with closing round bracket
Double Quote	"	Convert to '	Will replace with single quote
Back Slash	\	Convert to /	Will replace forward slash
Trailing Spaces	A space at the beginning or end	Trim	Will be removed

Normalisation

Normalisation should be applied to attribute names, not values. The process involves:

Capitalising the words;
Adding a space in-between CamelCase strings;
Removing double spaces;
And removing trailing spaces.

The processes will ignore strings that are entirely CAPITALISED, assuming they are acronyms. On the other hand, it will fix partial CAPITALisation, assuming it’s a mistake.

The following table will showcase some examples:

Before Normalisation	After Normalisation	Rule
“FirstName”	“First Name”	Split CamelCase
“Last Name”	“Last Name”	Removed double spacing
“ City “	“City”	Removed trailing spaces
“DOB“	“DOB”	Ignored assuming acronym
“DEPartment“	“Department”	Restored to lowercase
“διεύ θυνση”	“Διεύ Θυνση”	Capitalised words
“naÇão”	“Na Ção”	Capitalised words; Split CamelCase
“ cityAnd Location “	“City And Location”	Removed trailing spaces; Capitalised words; Split CamelCase; Removed double spacing

Examples of all Restrictions

The following table shows examples of how all restrictions will work together:

Before Changes	After Changes	Processes Order	Process Rules
“SUB{\}urb”	“Sub/Urb”	Removed illegal characters; Replaced characters; Normalised	Removed open curly bracket; removed closing curly bracket; replaced back slash with forward slash; capitalised words; lowercased word.
“ cou%%^^ntry “	“Country”	Removed illegal characters; Normalised	Removed illegal characters % ^; capitalised words; trimmed trailing spaces
“ç-alışm-a”	“Ç-Alışm-A”	Normalised	Capitalised words. No removals or conversions necessary as dashes are allowed.
“post%[COde]”	“Post (Code)”	Removed illegal characters; Replaced characters; Normalised	Removed illegal characters % *; replaced open square bracket with open round bracket; replaced closing square bracket with closing round bracket; capitalised words; lowercased second word; added space before bracket.
“Stra[ß]enname”	“Stra(Ss)Enname”	Replaced characters; Normalised	Replaced open square bracket with open round bracket; replaced closing square bracket with closing round bracket; capitalised words.