thanks for your quick replies. i tried to encode the template with UTF-8. below is the way i did it.
template = VelocityUtil.getVelocityTemplate("velocity_templates/myTemplate.vm","UTF-8"); but it didnt solve the problem. and Claude adding the properties file did the trick. thanks for the information. again thanks for both of you to sending such quick replies. -- Thanks & Regards, Chathuraka Waas