The point of this template is to create a pseudo XML file in a string
(my_xml), and pass it on to a java function (java_class:function) which
will process it. However, doing it this way, my_xml will have the
following content: <bar>a < b</bar>
which is not well-formed, and thence couldn't be parsed by an XML parser
in my java class.

So what i'm looking for is a way of outputting, *in my internal string*,
"a &lt; b" instead of "a < b".

I don't think this is bad practice, is it? I mean, definitely there are
some cases where XSLT just cannot handle everything, and the processing
of a piece of XML have to be handed over to some other processor :-).

Owen Rees; speaking personally, and not on behalf of HP.
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