XML parsing in RPG.

hey all,

I'm working on a program to parse XML using the "new" XML-SAX handlers and
have a question.

I did not write the program, so I'm kind of working backwards here - I
don't fully understand the XML operations - trying to learn as I go, but
I'm sure others must have run across this problem and can give me an idea
of where to look to fix it.

the program works just fine 99.9% of the time, but one of the data elements
comes through with replacement characters for an ampersand '&' - i.e. &

the parser sees this and freaks, losing all the characters before and
including that string, making the value whatever is after the ampersand.
basically, it interprets this:

the value is supposed to be: 'TRAVELERS CASUALTY & SURETY CO. OF AMERICA'
which comes in from the 3rd party (after ebcdic translation) as:
<value xsi:type="soapenc:string">TRAVELERS CASUALTY &amp; SURETY CO. OF
AMERICA</value>
when the parser is done with it, it looks like this:
' SURETY CO. OF AMERICA'

I can manipulate the characters any way I want, but is '&' the only
character that gets treated this way? are there other &xxxx; replacement
variables for other characters?

I feel like I'm fishing without a worm here. I don't want to read every
XML link on infocenter or elsewhere searching for something that should be
simple.

thanks in advance!

Rick