Using html in cf report builder and escaping the & ampersand character

Some of the data we collect is entered via a WYSIWYG editor.  Therefore formatting such as bold, italic etc is translated into HTML.

The text could also contain special characters/accented characters, again these are translated into their html equivalents.

In CF Report Builder, I have set the XHTML Text formatting to TRUE.  However the report won't render the text in these boxes.  From what I can see it doesn't like the '&' character (ampersand).

I have read elsewhere that report builder is limited in the characters etc that it can read and that I should translate the values.  I ended up doing this in the database to try and save some time.

CREATE

ORREPLACEFUNCTIONtranslatexhtmltoasci(var_text IN appendix3%TYPE)

RETURNclob

clob;

BEGIN

replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replac e(replace(replace(replace(replace(

replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replac e(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(replace(replace(replace(replace

(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(repla ce(

,chr(38) || 'lt;',chr(60))

,chr(38) || 'gt;',chr(62))

,chr(38) || 'euro;',chr(49792))

,chr(38) || 'iexcl;',chr(49825))

,chr(38) || 'cent;',chr(49826))

,chr(38) || 'pound;',chr(49827))

,chr(38) || 'curren;',chr(49828))

,chr(38) || 'yen;',chr(49829))

,chr(38) || 'brvbar;',chr(49830))

,chr(38) || 'uml;',chr(49832))

,chr(38) || 'copy;',chr(49833))

,chr(38) || 'ordf;',chr(49834))

,chr(38) || 'laquo;',chr(49835))

,chr(38) || 'not;',chr(49836))

,chr(38) || 'shy;',chr(49837))

,chr(38) || 'reg;',chr(49838))

,chr(38) || 'macr;',chr(49839))

,chr(38) || 'deg;',chr(49840))

,chr(38) || 'plusmn;',chr(49841))

,chr(38) || 'sup2;',chr(49842))

,chr(38) || 'sup3;',chr(49843))

,chr(38) || 'acute;',chr(49844))

,chr(38) || 'micro;',chr(49845))

,chr(38) || 'para;',chr(49846))

,chr(38) || 'middot;',chr(49847))

,chr(38) || 'cedil;',chr(49848))

,chr(38) || 'sup1;',chr(49849))

,chr(38) || 'ordm;',chr(49850))

,chr(38) || 'raquo;',chr(49851))

,chr(38) || 'frac14;',chr(49852))

,chr(38) || 'frac12;',chr(49853))

,chr(38) || 'frac34;',chr(49854))

,chr(38) || 'iquest;',chr(49855))

,chr(38) || 'Agrave;',chr(50048))

,chr(38) || 'Aacute;',chr(50049))

,chr(38) || 'Acirc;',chr(50050))

,chr(38) || 'Atilde;',chr(50051))

,chr(38) || 'Auml;',chr(50052))

,chr(38) || 'Aring;',chr(50053))

,chr(38) || 'AElig;',chr(50054))

,chr(38) || 'Ccedil;',chr(50055))

,chr(38) || 'Egrave;',chr(50056))

,chr(38) || 'Eacute;',chr(50057))

,chr(38) || 'Ecirc;',chr(50058))

,chr(38) || 'Euml;',chr(50059))

,chr(38) || 'Igrave;',chr(50060))

,chr(38) || 'Iacute;',chr(50061))

,chr(38) || 'Icirc;',chr(50062))

,chr(38) || 'Iuml;',chr(50063))

,chr(38) || 'ETH;',chr(50064))

,chr(38) || 'Ntilde;',chr(50065))

,chr(38) || 'Ograve;',chr(50066))

,chr(38) || 'Oacute;',chr(50067))

,chr(38) || 'Ocirc;',chr(50068))

,chr(38) || 'Otilde;',chr(50069))

,chr(38) || 'Ouml;',chr(50070))

,chr(38) || 'times;',chr(50071))

,chr(38) || 'Oslash;',chr(50072))

,chr(38) || 'Ugrave;',chr(50073))

,chr(38) || 'Uacute;',chr(50074))

,chr(38) || 'Ucirc;',chr(50075))

,chr(38) || 'Uuml;',chr(50076))

,chr(38) || 'THORN;',chr(50078))

,chr(38) || 'szlig;',chr(50079))

,chr(38) || 'agrave;',chr(50080))

,chr(38) || 'aacute;',chr(50081))

,chr(38) || 'acirc;',chr(50082))

,chr(38) || 'atilde;',chr(50083))

,chr(38) || 'auml;',chr(50084))

,chr(38) || 'aring;',chr(50085))

,chr(38) || 'aelig;',chr(50086))

,chr(38) || 'ccedil;',chr(50087))

,chr(38) || 'egrave;',chr(50088))

,chr(38) || 'eacute;',chr(50089))

,chr(38) || 'ecirc;',chr(50090))

,chr(38) || 'euml;',chr(50091))

,chr(38) || 'igrave;',chr(50092))

,chr(38) || 'iacute;',chr(50093))

,chr(38) || 'icirc;',chr(50094))

,chr(38) || 'iuml;',chr(50095))

,chr(38) || 'eth;',chr(50096))

,chr(38) || 'ntilde;',chr(50097))

,chr(38) || 'ograve;',chr(50098))

,chr(38) || 'oacute;',chr(50099))

,chr(38) || 'ocirc;',chr(50100))

,chr(38) || 'otilde;',chr(50101))

,chr(38) || 'ouml;',chr(50102))

,chr(38) || 'divide;',chr(50103))

,chr(38) || 'oslash;',chr(50104))

,chr(38) || 'ugrave;',chr(50105))

,chr(38) || 'uacute;',chr(50106))

,chr(38) || 'ucirc;',chr(50107))

,chr(38) || 'uuml;',chr(50108))

,chr(38) || 'yacute;',chr(50109))

,chr(38) || 'thorn;',chr(50110))

,chr(38) || 'yuml;',chr(50111))

,chr(38) || 'quot;',chr(34))

,chr(38) || 'amp;',chr(38))

,chr(38) || 'apos;',chr(39))

,chr(38) || 'nbsp;',chr(32))

,chr(38) || 'sect;',chr(49831))

,chr(38) || 'Yacute;',chr(50077))

,chr(38) || 'sbquo;',chr(49794))

,chr(38) || 'fnof;',chr(49795))

,chr(38) || 'bdquo;',chr(49796))

,chr(38) || 'hellip;',chr(49797))

,chr(38) || 'dagger;',chr(49798))

,chr(38) || 'Dagger;',chr(49799))

,chr(38) || 'circ;',chr(49800))

,chr(38) || 'permil;',chr(49801))

,chr(38) || 'Scaron;',chr(49802))

,chr(38) || 'lsaquo;',chr(49803))

,chr(38) || 'OElig;',chr(49804))

,chr(38) || 'lsquo;',chr(49809))

,chr(38) || 'rsquo;',chr(49810))

,chr(38) || 'ldquo;',chr(49811))

,chr(38) || 'rdquo;',chr(49812))

,chr(38) || 'bull;',chr(49813))

,chr(38) || 'ndash;',chr(49814))

,chr(38) || 'mdash;',chr(49815))

,chr(38) || 'tilde;',chr(49816))

,chr(38) || 'trade;',chr(49817))

,chr(38) || 'scaron;',chr(49818))

,chr(38) || 'rsaquo;',chr(49819))

,chr(38) || 'oelig;',chr(49820))

,chr(38) || 'Yuml;',chr(49823))

var_translated_text

dual;

RETURN var_translated_text;

translatexhtmltoasci;

/

However my question is, how can I output the ampersand character? I've tried replacing it for chr(38) but it just outputs the & and leaves the rest of the text unrendered.

eg)  The output in report builder becomes something like this:

...

E 300 L-Ascorbic acid in O.J. L 254 of 01/01/2009, p.68<p> </p><p> </p></li></p><BR/><b>Removal</b><br><p>The entries struck through in edition 98 are now

removed.</p><BR/><b>Note</b><br><p>tests ₂m^2.</p><p>1233456 <strong>bold </strong><u>underline </u><em>italic</em></p><ul><li>bullet

1</li><li>bullet 2</li><li>bullet 3</li></ul><p>aeiou mù^$*)àç_è-(é</p><p>2 ù</p><p>Michael & sons.</p><BR/>