I want to translate the checkbox string to checkbox object and check whether it is checked or not

The below function sets the checkbox in the flextable. using sethtml()...

public void populateData(int index, CartItem newLine) {
    int i = 0;

    for (WebMenuAttribute attribute : columns) {
        String result = getPropertyValue(newLine, attribute.getName());
        if(!isWidget)
        this.setText(index, i++, result);
        else 
        this.setHTML(index, i++, result);**
    }
}

and i'm retreiving the checkbox using the following statement.

            String test = shoppingCartTable.getHTML(i, vendorIndex);

which returns me this string (when it is checked or unchecked in both cases)..

i want to convert this back to checkbox and check whether it is checked. Any help would be appreciated..