def dumps(params, methodname=None, methodresponse=None, encoding=None,
              allow_none=0):
	"""data [,options] -> marshalled data

	Convert an argument tuple or a Fault instance to an XML-RPC
	request (or response, if the methodresponse option is used).

	In addition to the data object, the following options can be given
	as keyword arguments:

		methodname: the method name for a methodCall packet

		methodresponse: true to create a methodResponse packet.
		If this option is used with a tuple, the tuple must be
		a singleton (i.e. it can contain only one element).

		encoding: the packet encoding (default is UTF-8)

	All 8-bit strings in the data structure are assumed to use the
	packet encoding.  Unicode strings are automatically converted,
	where necessary.
	"""
	#=====================================================================================================
	# Support for extensions namespace
	
	def dump_None(m, value, write):
		if not m.allow_none:
			raise TypeError, "cannot marshal None unless allow_none is enabled"
		write("<value><ex:nil/></value>")
	#=====================================================================================================
	assert isinstance(params, TupleType) or isinstance(params, Fault),\
		   "argument must be tuple or Fault instance"

	if isinstance(params, Fault):
		methodresponse = 1
	elif methodresponse and isinstance(params, TupleType):
		assert len(params) == 1, "response tuple must be a singleton"

	if not encoding:
		encoding = "utf-8"
	#=====================================================================================================
	# Support for the 'ex' namespace prefix
	m = xmlrpclib.Marshaller(encoding, allow_none)
	m.dispatch[NoneType] = lambda *args:dump_None(*args)
	#=====================================================================================================
	data = m.dumps(params)

	if encoding != "utf-8":
		xmlheader = "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='%s'?>\n" % str(encoding)
	else:
		xmlheader = "<?xml version='1.0'?>\n" # utf-8 is default

	# standard XML-RPC wrappings
	if methodname:
		# a method call
		if not isinstance(methodname, str):
			methodname = methodname.encode(encoding)
		data = (
			xmlheader,
	#=====================================================================================================
	# Support for extensions namespace                
			"<methodCall xmlns:ex='http://ws.apache.org/xmlrpc/namespaces/extensions'>\n"
	#=====================================================================================================
			"<methodName>", methodname, "</methodName>\n",
			data,
			"</methodCall>\n"
			)
	elif methodresponse:
		# a method response, or a fault structure
		data = (
			xmlheader,
	#=====================================================================================================
	# Support for extensions namespace
			"<methodResponse xmlns:ex='http://ws.apache.org/xmlrpc/namespaces/extensions'>\n",
	#=====================================================================================================                
			data,
			"</methodResponse>\n"
			)
	else:
		return data # return as is
	return StringType.join('', data)