How can I use escaped-characters in an option

Question

I have the following code that is used to retrieve city-names including parent-child relations from a database and place them in an array:
<%@ page contentType="application/x-javascript" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="sql" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql" %>
<sql:setDataSource dataSource="jdbc/KADOS" var="Raak" scope="session" />
<sql:query var="bewaringSQL" dataSource="${Raak}">
SELECT bewaringcode, vestigingsplaats FROM BEWARING order by vestigingsplaats
</sql:query>
bewaringen = new Array(
<c:forEach items="${bewaringSQL.rows}" var="plaats" varStatus="s" >
new Array( "<c:out value="${plaats.BEWARINGCODE}" />",
"<c:out value="${plaats.VESTIGINGSPLAATS}" />" )
<c:if test="${not s.last}">,</c:if>
</c:forEach>
i=0;
<c:forEach items="${bewaringSQL.rows}" var="plaats" varStatus="s" >
<sql:query var="bewaringGemSQL" dataSource="${Raak}" sql="SELECT KADGEMCODE, KGMNAAM FROM KADGEMEENTE where BEWARINGCODE=? order by KGMNAAM">
<sql:param value="${plaats.BEWARINGCODE}" />
</sql:query>
tmp = new Array(
<c:forEach items="${bewaringGemSQL.rows}" var="gem" varStatus="s" >
new Array( "<c:out value="${gem.KGMNAAM}" />",
"<c:out value="${gem.KADGEMCODE}" />" )
<c:if test="${not s.last}">,</c:if>
</c:forEach>
bewaringen[2] = tmp;
i = i+1;
</c:forEach>
function bewaringenList(selectCtrl, itemArray) {
for (i=0; i<itemArray.length; i++) {
selectCtrl.options[i] = new Option(itemArray[i][1]);
selectCtrl.options[i].value = itemArray[i][0];
function setList(selectCtrl, itemArray) {
for (i=selectCtrl.options.length; i>=0; i--) {
selectCtrl.options[i] = null;
for (i=0; i<itemArray.length; i++) {
optie = filter(itemArray[i][0]);
selectCtrl.options[i] = new Option(optie);
selectCtrl.options[i].value = itemArray[i][1];
function filter( invoer) {
retour = invoer;
retour = retour.replace("'", "\'");
return retour;
The function 'bewaringenList' populates a <SELECT> with parent-names and
"setList(document.VraagForm.gemSelect, bewaringen[this.selectedIndex][2]);" populates the depending <SELECT> with child-names.
Some names contain single quotes (like "&#039;t Zandt") and are displayd in the select-box as "&#039t Zandt".
I expected that the quotes could be replaced by escape-characters by 'filter(invoer)' but this does not work.
Is there a generic way to show these characters?
Ben

Answer 1

I don't understand why but this filter solved the problem:
function filter( invoer) {
retour = invoer;
retour = retour.replace("&#039;", "'");
return retour;