Block Editor: Dollar sign ($) replaced with HTML entity $ after save/publish

[Neehakethi]

Problem Statement

When a dollar sign ($) is entered into a Block Editor field, it is replaced
with the HTML entity $ after the content is saved and published. The
editor-facing value changes on reopen, even though the frontend renders
correctly.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create or edit a Content Type that includes a Block Editor field
2. Create a new content item using that Content Type
3. In the Block Editor field, enter text containing a dollar sign
   Example: The application fee is $50.
4. Save and publish the content
5. Reopen the content item and inspect the Block Editor field

• Frontend rendering is unaffected — the character displays correctly to
  end users
• The issue is limited to the editor-facing stored value
• Reproducible on the dotCMS demo site (dotEvergreen / Current Release)
• Environment: Cloud / Production
• No recent dotCMS upgrade on the customer's side

Acceptance Criteria

The dollar sign is replaced with the HTML entity $ in the Block Editor
on reopen.
Example: The application fee is $50.

Expected Result

The dollar sign should remain unchanged in the Block Editor after
save/publish.
Example: The application fee is $50.

dotCMS Version

26.05.19-01

Severity

Low - Minor issue or cosmetic

Links

Freshdesk ticket: https://dotcms.freshdesk.com/a/tickets/37347
Freshdesk ticket: https://helpdesk.dotcms.com/a/tickets/37872

[rjvelazco]

Investigation: this is a backend transformation (not an editor/frontend bug), and it affects both the legacy and the new Block Editor

Summary

The $ → $ substitution does not happen in the Angular editor UI. Neither the legacy editor (core-web/libs/block-editor) nor the new editor (core-web/libs/new-block-editor) contains any dollar-sign or HTML-entity handling — confirmed by searching both libraries (zero hits).

Both editors are just different UIs over the same stored data and the same save → persist → read pipeline:

• same field type — StoryBlockField
• same content checkin / JSON persistence
• same content REST/GraphQL read path

So whatever rewrites $ into its HTML numeric entity $ lives in shared backend code and fires regardless of which editor produced the JSON. A fix belongs in the backend — fixing it once covers both editors. A frontend-only workaround would only mask the value inside the editor, while every other consumer (REST/GraphQL content API, headless SDK renderer, search index, push-publish, export) would still see $.

Why it happens

$ is the HTML numeric entity for $. The StoryBlock value flows through the Velocity layer, where $ and # are special characters used for variable/directive interpolation ($var, #directive). dotCMS escapes these so that user text like $50 is not interpreted by the Velocity engine. Relevant shared backend code:

• StoryBlock render / Velocity-context build — ContentletLoader (StoryBlock branch):
  

  core/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotcms/rendering/velocity/services/ContentletLoader.java

  Lines 179 to 210 in a1a2370

  	if (field instanceof StoryBlockField) {
  	contFieldValueObject = conAPI.getFieldValue(content, field);
  	if (UtilMethods.isSet(contFieldValueObject)) {
  	if (JsonUtil.isValidJSON(contFieldValueObject.toString())) {
  	// Replace empty relationship collections with $contents.getEmptyList()
  	final String jsonStr = contFieldValueObject.toString()
  	.replaceAll(":\\s*\\[\\s*\\]", ":\\$contents.getEmptyList()");
  	sb.append("#set($")
  	.append(field.variable())
  	.append("= $json.generate(")
  	.append(jsonStr)
  	.append("))");
  	} else {
  	Logger.warn(this, String.format("Story Block field '%s' in contentlet with ID '%s' does not " +
  	"contain valid JSON data. Please try to re-publish it.",
  	field.variable(), content.getIdentifier()));
  	if (contFieldValueObject.toString().contains("$") || contFieldValueObject.toString().contains("#")) {
  	String velPath = new VelocityResourceKey(field, Optional.of(content), mode).path;
  	sb.append("#set($")
  	.append(field.variable())
  	.append("= $velutil.mergeTemplate(\"")
  	.append(velPath)
  	.append("\"))");
  	} else {
  	sb.append("#set($")
  	.append(field.variable())
  	.append("= \"")
  	.append(UtilMethods.espaceForVelocity(contFieldValueObject.toString()).trim())
  	.append("\")");
  	}
  	}

• Velocity character escaping — VelocityUtil.cleanVelocity ($ → ${esc.dollar}, # → ${esc.hash}):
  

  core/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotcms/rendering/velocity/util/VelocityUtil.java

  Lines 103 to 110 in a1a2370

  	public static String cleanVelocity(String s) {
  	if (s==null) {
  	return null;
  	}
  	s=s.replace("$", "${esc.dollar}");
  	s=s.replace("#", "${esc.hash}");
  	return s;
  	}

• Velocity escaping helper — UtilMethods.espaceForVelocity (\ → \, etc.):
  

  core/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotmarketing/util/UtilMethods.java

  Lines 1509 to 1519 in a1a2370

  	public static String espaceForVelocity(String text) {
  	if (isSet(text)) {
  	text = replace(text, "\"", "${esc.q}");
  	text = replace(text, "##", "${esc.h}${esc.h}");
  	text = replace(text, "\\", "\"); //this fixes issue 10529
  	return text.trim();
  	}
  	return "";
  	}

• StoryBlock field type — AbstractStoryBlockFieldType:
  https://github.com/dotCMS/core/blob/a1a23703adf0c2742460ae7419b1a93336c3c105/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotcms/content/model/type/AbstractStoryBlockFieldType.java
• StoryBlock API view transform — StoryBlockViewStrategy:
  https://github.com/dotCMS/core/blob/a1a23703adf0c2742460ae7419b1a93336c3c105/dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotmarketing/portlets/contentlet/transform/strategy/StoryBlockViewStrategy.java

Caveat / next step for the assignee

I confirmed the architecture (shared backend ⇒ both editors affected) and the nature of the change (HTML numeric-entity encoding tied to Velocity-safety). I did not isolate the exact line that writes $ into the stored/served value — it is produced programmatically, not as a literal "$" string in core Java. The fix should target the StoryBlock read/transform boundary (so all API consumers — not just the editor — receive the correct $) and/or stop over-encoding at save while keeping Velocity-escaping at render time only.

[github-actions]

PRs linked to this issue

• fix(content-type): decode dollar sign in Story Block JSON on read (#35782) by @dsilvam
• fix(ui): decode $ entity in legacy Story Block editor on reopen (#35782) by @dsolistorres