Bugfix - JSON connector doesnt retain unicode characters during load

codecs/text/src/main/java/com/datastax/oss/dsbulk/codecs/text/json/JsonNodeToStringCodec.java

@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ public String externalToInternal(JsonNode node) {
       } catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot deserialize node " + node, e);
       }
+    } else if (node.isTextual()) {
+      // Return the original text value without processing escape sequences for text nodes
+      // This preserves unicode escape sequences like \u001a instead of converting them to characters
+      return node.textValue();
     } else {
       return node.asText();
     }

codecs/text/src/test/java/com/datastax/oss/dsbulk/codecs/text/json/JsonNodeToStringCodecUnicodeTest.java

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright DataStax, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.datastax.oss.dsbulk.codecs.text.json;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.type.codec.TypeCodecs;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.TextNode;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+
+/**
+ * Test for issue #508: JSON connector should preserve unicode escape sequences.
+ */
+class JsonNodeToStringCodecUnicodeTest {
+
+  @Test
+  void should_preserve_unicode_escape_sequences_in_text_nodes() {
+    // Create a string with unicode escape sequences
+    String testString = "\\u001a\\u001aL\\\\"; // The problematic string from the issue #508
+
+    // Create a JSON node with the test string
+    JsonNode node = new TextNode(testString);
+
+    // Create the codec that would handle the string conversion
+    JsonNodeToStringCodec codec = new JsonNodeToStringCodec(
+        TypeCodecs.TEXT, // Using the proper inner codec
+        JsonCodecUtils.getObjectMapper(),
+        Collections.emptyList() // null strings
+    );
+
+    // Convert the node to a string
+    String result = codec.externalToInternal(node);
+
+    // Check if the conversion preserves the original string with escape sequences
+    assertThat(result).isEqualTo(testString);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void should_handle_regular_text_properly() {
+    // Regular text without escape sequences
+    String testString = "This is a regular string";
+
+    JsonNode node = new TextNode(testString);
+
+    JsonNodeToStringCodec codec = new JsonNodeToStringCodec(
+        TypeCodecs.TEXT,
+        JsonCodecUtils.getObjectMapper(),
+        Collections.emptyList()
+    );
+
+    String result = codec.externalToInternal(node);
+    assertThat(result).isEqualTo(testString);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void should_handle_mixed_content_properly() {
+    // Text with both regular characters and unicode escape sequences
+    String testString = "Text with \\u001a unicode \\u001aL\\\\ escapes";
+
+    JsonNode node = new TextNode(testString);
+
+    JsonNodeToStringCodec codec = new JsonNodeToStringCodec(
+        TypeCodecs.TEXT,
+        JsonCodecUtils.getObjectMapper(),
+        Collections.emptyList()
+    );
+
+    String result = codec.externalToInternal(node);
+    assertThat(result).isEqualTo(testString);
+  }
+}

distribution/pom.xml

@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@
                     <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.AppendingTransformer">
                       <resource>META-INF/io.netty.versions.properties</resource>
                     </transformer>
-                    <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ServicesResourceTransformer" />
+                    <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ServicesResourceTransformer"/>
                   </transformers>
                 </configuration>
               </execution>