The error is Microsoft-specific, see for example

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275883

Incidentally, your code shows inconsistencies in the spelling of
"description" and "longDesc". XML is case-sensitive.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Stroud [mailto:stroudmw@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 23 February 2009 09:13
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  encoding error when using cdata
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I've been experimenting with cdata because I've got some 
> funny characters in my XML files. I've got something like this:
> 
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <wc:COLLECTION xmlns:wc="http://www.ptc.com/infoengine/1.0">
> <ChangedParts NAME="ChangedParts" TYPE="Unknown" STATUS="0"> 
> <Part> <Name>446RLi SMD ASSY</Name> 
> <description></description> <LongDesc></LongDesc>
> 
> etc...
> 
> The XSL looks like this:
> 
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" 
> xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
> <xsl:output indent="yes" method="xml" 
> cdata-section-elements="Name Description Longdesc"/> 
> <xsl:template match="/" xmlns:wc="http://www.ptc.com/infoengine/1.0">
> <xsl:copy-of select="."/>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
> 
> And the resultant XML turns out like this...
> 
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
> <wc:COLLECTION xmlns:wc="http://www.ptc.com/infoengine/1.0">
> 
> etc...
> 
> I now get the following error: Switch from current encoding 
> to specified encoding not supported. Line: 1. <?xml version="1.0"
> encoding="UTF-16"?>
> 
> Does anyone know how I can fix this? I've tried different 
> encoding methods in the XSL file, but they appear to be ignored.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike.