How to remove non-ascii char from MQ messages with ESQL - messagebroker

Question

CONCLUSION:
For some reason the flow wouldn't let me convert the incoming message to a BLOB by changing the Message Domain property of the Input Node so I added a Reset Content Descriptor node before the Compute Node with the code from the accepted answer. On the line that parses the XML and creates the XMLNSC Child for the message I was getting a 'CHARACTER:Invalid wire format received' error so I took that line out and added another Reset Content Descriptor node after the Compute Node instead. Now it parses and replaces the Unicode characters with spaces. So now it doesn't crash.
Here is the code for the added Compute Node:
CREATE FUNCTION Main() RETURNS BOOLEAN
BEGIN
DECLARE NonPrintable BLOB X'0001020304050607080B0C0E0F101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F7F808182838485868788898A8B8C8D8E8F909192939495969798999A9B9C9D9E9FA0A1A2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9AAABACADAEAFB0B1B2B3B4B5B6B7B8B9BABBBCBDBEBFC0C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8C9CACBCCCDCECFD0D1D2D3D4D5D6D7D8D9DADBDCDDDEDFE0E1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9EAEBECEDEEEFF1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8F9FAFBFCFDFEFF';
DECLARE Printable BLOB X'20202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020';
DECLARE Fixed BLOB TRANSLATE(InputRoot.BLOB.BLOB, NonPrintable, Printable);
SET OutputRoot = InputRoot;
SET OutputRoot.BLOB.BLOB = Fixed;
RETURN TRUE;
END;
UPDATE:
The message is being parsed as XML using XMLNSC. Thought that would cause a problem, but it does not appear to be.
Now I'm using PHP. I've created a node to plug into the legacy flow. Here's the relevant code:
class fixIncompetence {
function evaluate ($output_assembly,$input_assembly) {
$output_assembly->MRM = $input_assembly->MRM;
$output_assembly->MQMD = $input_assembly->MQMD;
$tmp = htmlentities($input_assembly->MRM->VALUE_TO_FIX, ENT_HTML5|ENT_SUBSTITUTE,'UTF-8');
if (!empty($tmp)) {
$output_assembly->MRM->VALUE_TO_FIX = $tmp;
}
// Ensure there are no null MRM fields. MessageBroker is strict.
foreach ($output_assembly->MRM as $key => $val) {
if (empty($val)) {
$output_assembly->MRM->$key = '';
}
}
}
}
Right now I'm getting a vague error about read only messages, but before that it wasn't working either.
Original Question:
For some reason I am unable to impress upon the senders of our MQ
messages that smart quotes, endashes, emdashes, and such crash our XML
parser.
I managed to make a working solution with SQL queries, but it wasted
too many resources. Here's the last thing I tried, but it didn't work
either:
CREATE FUNCTION CLEAN(IN STR CHAR) RETURNS CHAR BEGIN
SET STR = REPLACE('–',STR,'–');
SET STR = REPLACE('—',STR,'—');
SET STR = REPLACE('·',STR,'·');
SET STR = REPLACE('“',STR,'“');
SET STR = REPLACE('”',STR,'”');
SET STR = REPLACE('‘',STR,'&lsqo;');
SET STR = REPLACE('’',STR,'’');
SET STR = REPLACE('•',STR,'•');
SET STR = REPLACE('°',STR,'°');
RETURN STR;
END;
As you can see I'm not very good at this. I have tried reading about
various ESQL string functions without much success.

Answer 1

So in ESQL you can use the TRANSLATE function.
The following is a snippet I use to clean up a BLOB containing non-ASCII low hex values so that it then be cast into a usable character string.
You should be able to modify it to change your undesired characters into something more benign. Basically each hex value in NonPrintable gets translated into its positional equivalent in Printable, in this case always a full-stop i.e. x'2E' in ASCII. You'll need to make your BLOB's long enough to cover the desired range of hex values.
DECLARE NonPrintable BLOB X'000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F202122232425262728292A2B2C2D2E2F303132333435363738393A3B3C3D3E3F';
DECLARE Printable BLOB X'2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E2E';
SET WorkBlob = TRANSLATE(WorkBlob, NonPrintable, Printable);
BTW if messages with invalid characters only come in every now and then I'd probably specify BLOB on the input node and then use something similar to the following to invoke the XMLNSC parser.
CREATE LASTCHILD OF OutputRoot DOMAIN 'XMLNSC'
PARSE(InputRoot.BLOB.BLOB CCSID InputRoot.Properties.CodedCharSetId ENCODING InputRoot.Properties.Encoding);
With the exception terminal wired up you can then correct the BLOB's of any messages containing parser breaking invalid characters before attempting to reparse.
Finally my best wishes as I've had a number of battles over the years with being forced to correct invalid message content in the "Integration Layer" after all that's what it's meant to do.