Question

The SIS job ("Users SYNCHRONIZE using profile Student Information System") fails with error: "Invalid byte 1 of 1-byte UTF-8 sequence.", or something like, "An invalid XML character (Unicode: 0x0) was found in the element content of the document".

Answer

Unicode characters in general needs to be output in UTF-8 encoding.

Check the input file for special characters (non-Latin diacritics). Open the file using Notepad++ and validate with the XML Plugin, or thanks to another XML validation tool.

When a file is uploaded with special characters in XML, the special characters should be escaped as they are in HTML. This is also the case when uploading a bibliographic file via an import profile.

For example,
Instead of → (Unicode Character 'RIGHTWARDS ARROW' (U+2192)), use HTML →

Examples and further information is in the Blog "Accented characters in SIS import and export".

Additional Information

After fixing the XML file, zip it and place on the FTP directory. Wait for the next SIS job to run, or run manually: 

1. Navigate to: Configuration > General > Integration Profiles
2. Edit the profile for: Student Information System
3. Select the "Actions" tab
4. In the "SYNCHRONIZE" section click: Run.

• Article last edited: 19-JAN-2022