About

This is Notepad++ plugin for escaping/unescaping JSON strings.

Installation

TL;DR Official plugin installation HOWTO

Open Releases page to see all releases.

32-bit (x86) Notepad++

Download the latest 32-bit version (Release_x86.zip).

Unzip the Release_x86.zip to %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\NppJsonEscapeUnescapePlugin\NppJsonEscapeUnescapePlugin.dll.

Usually %PROGRAMFILES(x86)% = C:\Program Files (x86).

64-bit (x86-64) Notepad++

Download the latest 64-bit version (Release_x64.zip).

Unzip the Release_x64.zip to %PROGRAMFILES%\Notepad++\plugins\NppJsonEscapeUnescapePlugin\NppJsonEscapeUnescapePlugin.dll.

Usually %PROGRAMFILES% = C:\Program Files.

Functions

Escape

Plain simple JSON escape.

Examples

sample "string"\ => "sample \"string\"\\"

{"a": "test"} => "{\"a\": \"test\"}"

And so on.

Unescape

Plain simple JSON unescape, but it can unescape both some string and "some string".

Input MUST be valid JSON escaped string.

Examples

"test \"string\"\\n" => test "string"\n

test \"string\"\\n => test "string"\n

{\"a\": \"123\\n\"} => {"a": "123\n"}

And so on.

Recursive unescape

This is a bit tricky.

If input is "some string" or some string it behaves as simple unescape (see above).

If input is valid JSON (like {"a": 1}) or valid escaped JSON (like "{\"a\": \"string\"}" with or without outer quotes), it does:

• Parse input to JSON
• Recursively traverse all nodes
• For string nodes try parse string content as JSON and replace string value with object value

Examples

"{\"a\": \"string\"}" => {"a":"string"}

{\"a\": \"string\"} => {"a":"string"} (same as above but without outer quotes)

"{\"a\":1,\"b\":\"{\\\"c\\\": 1}\"}" => {"a":1,"b":{"c":1}}

{"a": "{\"b\":\"{\\\"c\\\": \\\"string\\\"}\"}"} => {"a":{"b":{"c":"string"}}}

And so on.

How to build

Do a security audit

Since this is some random repo from random guy do not trust it.

Check git externals

.gitmodules should contain reference to official JsonCpp repo ( https://github.com/open-source-parsers/jsoncpp.git ).

Check *.bat files

build_jsoncpp_x32.bat and build_jsoncpp_x64.bat should contain only build-related commands.

Read the code

Well, just do it. Its tiny. There should be no suspicious things like network operations, process creation, obfuscated stuff and so on.

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 17 2022

• Desktop development with C++
  • WIndows SDK
  • C++ CMake tools for windows
• Python development
  • Python 3

Get the code

git clone https://github.com/RolandTaverner/npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin.git

Build JsonCpp's static libraries

You can build 32 bit, 64 bit library versions or both if you need them all.

If you installed Visual Studio to non-standard location change path to vcvarsall.bat at the beginning of build_jsoncpp_x32.bat and build_jsoncpp_x64.bat. Also you can open VS 2022 x64 tools console and run commands manually without explicit call to vcvarsall.bat.

32 bit

Run build_jsoncpp_x32.bat.

After successful build there should be files located at

• npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin\3rdparty\jsoncppbuild\build_Win32\lib\Debug\jsoncpp.lib
• npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin\3rdparty\jsoncppbuild\build_Win32\lib\Release\jsoncpp.lib

64 bit

Run build_jsoncpp_x64.bat.

After successful build there should be files located at

• npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin\3rdparty\jsoncppbuild\build_x64\lib\Debug\jsoncpp.lib
• npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin\3rdparty\jsoncppbuild\build_x64\lib\Release\jsoncpp.lib

Open solution

Solution file located at npp-json-escape-unescape-plugin/vs.proj/NppJsonEscapeUnescapePlugin.sln

Enjoy

Thanks to

Don Ho

The author of the famous lovely Notepad++.

JsonCpp community

Authors and maintainers of JsonCpp library.

Rajendra Singh

The author of URL plugin which I used as a reference.

molsonkiko

The author of the JsonTools plugin which I use every day.