*
     * @throws XNIException Thrown by handler to signal an error.
     */
    public void characters(XMLString text, Augmentations augs) throws XNIException {
        text = handleCharacters(text);

        if (fSawOnlyWhitespaceInElementContent) {
            fSawOnlyWhitespaceInElementContent = false;
            if (!reportWhitespace) {
                ignorableWhitespace(text, augs);
                return;
            }
        }

        // call handlers
        if (fDocumentHandler != null) {
            if (fNormalizeData && fUnionType) {
                // for union types we can't normalize data
                // thus we only need to send augs information if any;
                // the normalized data for union will be send
                // after normalization is performed (at the endElement())
                if (augs != null)
                    fDocumentHandler.characters(fEmptyXMLStr, augs);
            } else {
                fDocumentHandler.characters(text, augs);
            }
        }

    }