CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[strings_encodeHTML](@inputText NVARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS NVARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @encodedText NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'';

    IF DATALENGTH(@inputText) > 0
    BEGIN
        /* 1) Escape reserved HTML characters (& < >); FOR XML also entitizes CR as &#x0D; */
        SET @encodedText = CAST((SELECT @inputText AS [p] FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX));

        /* 2) Remove the leading <p> and trailing </p> that FOR XML adds */
        SET @encodedText = SUBSTRING(@encodedText, 4, LEN(@encodedText) - 7);

        /* 3) Line breaks (CRLF, LF, lone CR) -> <br>; NBSP -> &nbsp; */
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, N'&#x0D;' + NCHAR(10), N'<br>');
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, NCHAR(13) + NCHAR(10), N'<br>');
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, NCHAR(10), N'<br>');
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, N'&#x0D;', N'<br>');
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, NCHAR(13), N'<br>');
        SET @encodedText = REPLACE(@encodedText, NCHAR(160), N'&nbsp;');
    END

    RETURN @encodedText;
END;