I get this raw string (see attached) when I draw up the customFields in the customers table of quickbooks. Is there a "best practices" way to decode/encode this into/from a customFieldsObject{string countryIsocode; string companyId}, or is it ok if use "brute force" string manipulations in this instance.

And is it just me, or this _not_ a well formed xml, there should be (at least) encapsulating customFields tags no, for this to be submitted to xml encoding/decoding routines.