Rails - Jul 2005 - observe_field issue with '&' and other characters typed in

Hello,

I am trying to use an observe_field for a live search.

In the .rhtml file I am using:

<%= text_field_tag :searchtext %>
			<%= observe_field(:searchtext, :frequency => 0.1, :update => 
:continut, :url => { :action => :live_search },
			:with => "''search='' + escape(value)") %>

Everything works out fine with the following exceptions:

- when I type a ''&'' in the search box, everything that
follows after it
is ignored. That is, when I type ''Chip&Dale'' in the search
box, only
''Chip'' gets to :live_search.

- when I type a ''\'' in the search box, :live_search gets
''\\''.

Any ideas how I can solve this? I saw that rubyonrails.com implements 
the search correctly (the &''s and \''s get through OK), so
there must be
a work-around.

Best regards,

Paul