HTML Entity Encoding in PlainTextErrorRenderer

[punjabik]

Description

The PlainTextErrorRenderer in Slim Framework applies HTML entity encoding to exception messages via the htmlentities function. This behavior leads to the encoding of special characters in log messages and other plain text outputs, which might not be desired in all contexts.

Slim Framework Version

4

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use the PlainTextErrorRenderer to handle exceptions.
2. Trigger an exception with a message that includes characters that are typically encoded by htmlentities (like double quotes).
3. Observe the output (in logs, terminal, etc.) and notice that characters are HTML entity encoded (e.g., double quotes are converted to ").

Expected Behavior

In a plain text context, one would expect the error message to be rendered as-is, without HTML entity encoding. The use of htmlentities might be more appropriate for HTML-specific renderers.

Actual Behavior

The error message is HTML entity encoded, leading to representations like " in place of double quotes in plain text outputs.

Possible Solution

Consider removing the htmlentities call from the PlainTextErrorRenderer, or provide an option to disable HTML entity encoding based on the context in which the renderer is used.

Context

This encoding issue affects logging, CLI outputs, and other scenarios where HTML entity encoding is not desirable in error messages.

Slim/Slim/Error/Renderers/PlainTextErrorRenderer.php

Line 49 in fdb6d61

$text .= sprintf("Message: %s\n", htmlentities($exception->getMessage()));

[l0gicgate]

The easy solution to this is to create your own renderer. You can copy paste the plain text error render and modify it to your liking.

Feel free to propose an alternate solution. Being able to customize the renderer while keeping the existing behavior would be necessary in this case.

[akrabat]

To my mind, this is a bug as we don't call htmlentities() on the JSON or XML error renderers. PR #3319 raised.