xml markupbuilder in grails changing single quotes in atribute value to ' - grails

Question

I am using groovys xml markupbuilder to generate my xml. I have attribute of a tag which has single quote (') as part of its value, and when I set it in the code and do a printout, I see the generated xml has the single quote changed to '
Is this automatically converted to single quote when I render this xml string in gsp?
if not how do I retain the single quote in the attribute value?
I tried to escape the single quote using \ but it stil shows &apos in output log
here is the markupbuilder code I have
xml.map(id:"worldmap",name:"worldmap"){
res_row.each{
area(shape:"circle",alt:it.key,title:it.key,onclick:"loadActivity(\'"+it.key+"\')")
}
}
the final attribute should be onclick="loadActivity('New York')"
Thanks

Answer 1

you can configure the markup-builder to use double quotes:
xml.setDoubleQuotes(true)
complete example:
import groovy.xml.MarkupBuilder
def xml = new MarkupBuilder()
xml.setDoubleQuotes(true)
def res_row = [a:1, b:2]
def text= xml.map(id:"worldmap",name:"worldmap"){
res_row.each{
area(shape:"circle",alt:it.key,title:it.key,onclick:"loadActivity('${it.key}')")
}
}
println text
prints:
<map id="worldmap" name="worldmap">
<area shape="circle" alt="a" title="a" onclick="loadActivity('a')" />
<area shape="circle" alt="b" title="b" onclick="loadActivity('b')" />