Problem getting entity from Parser

[Seth Ladd]

Hello,

I'm pretty sure that this error is the result of User Ignorance, so any
pointers to correctly do this would be greatly appreciated.

First, some specs on my system: Linux 2.2.13, IBM JDK 1.1.18, Xerces-J
1.0

I have a small XML file I am trying to parse.  It's so small I'll give
it here:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE dbxmlconfig [
    <!-- DTD -->
    <!ELEMENT dbxmlconfig (database+)>
    <!ELEMENT database (driver, connection, user?, password?)>
    <!ELEMENT driver (#PCDATA)>
    <!ELEMENT connection (#PCDATA)>
    <!ELEMENT user (#PCDATA)>
    <!ELEMENT password (#PCDATA)>
    <!ATTLIST database id CDATA #REQUIRED>
]>

<!-- the dbxml config file -->

<dbxmlconfig>

<database id="mysql-bigbird">
    <!-- make sure this is in your classpath! -->
    <driver>org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver</driver>
    <connection>
        jdbc:mysql://localhost/blah?user=blah&amp;password=blah
    </connection>
</database>

</dbxmlconfig>

As you can see, the <connection> tag has a string that includes an
'&amp;' entity.  It's my understanding that this should be converted to
a '&' when parsed.  When I print out the document using simple DOM
traversing, the '&amp;' is pulled out and nothing is put in its place.

How do I tell Xerces-J to replace '&amp;' with &?  Isn't &amp; an
internal entity?  Also, if I just include & into the <connection> tag's
contents, then the parser complains that I don't have a ';' after
password (it's thinking that password becomes an entity).

I've looked all over to try to find out how to get the & to show up.  I
might have missed it.  If anyone can shed light on this for me, I'd be
really grateful.  I'll keep looking.

Thanks for your time and help,
Seth