// Utility function to escape HTML characters from a string.
function escapeHtml(str) {
    if (typeof str !== 'string') {
        return '';
    }

    const escapeCharacter = (match) => {
        switch (match) {
            case '&': return '&';
            case '<': return '&lt;';
            case '>': return '&gt;';
            case '"': return '&quot;';
            case '\'': return '&#039;';
            case '`': return '&#096;';
            default: return match;
        }
    };

    return str.replace(/[&<>"'`]/g, escapeCharacter);
}