CkHtmlToXml Perl Reference Documentation

CkHtmlToXml

Current Version: 9.5.0.97

Class for converting HTML to well-formed XML for the purpose of programmatically extracting (scraping) information from any HTML page.

Object Creation

$obj = chilkat::CkHtmlToXml->new();

Properties

DebugLogFilePath
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_DebugLogFilePath($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->debugLogFilePath();
$htmlToXml->put_DebugLogFilePath($strVal);

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

top
DropCustomTags
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $htmlToXml->get_DropCustomTags();
$htmlToXml->put_DropCustomTags($boolVal);

If set to true, then any non-standard HTML tags will be dropped when converting to XML.

top
Html
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_Html($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->html();
$htmlToXml->put_Html($strVal);

The HTML to be converted by the ToXml method. To convert HTML to XML, first set this property to the HTML string and then call ToXml. The ConvertFile method can do file-to-file conversions.

top
LastErrorHtml
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_LastErrorHtml($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->lastErrorHtml();

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorText
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_LastErrorText($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->lastErrorText();

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorXml
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_LastErrorXml($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->lastErrorXml();

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastMethodSuccess
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $htmlToXml->get_LastMethodSuccess();
$htmlToXml->put_LastMethodSuccess($boolVal);

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of 1 indicates success, a value of 0 indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = 1 and failure = 0.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to 1. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

top
Nbsp
# $intVal is an integer
$intVal = $htmlToXml->get_Nbsp();
$htmlToXml->put_Nbsp($intVal);

Determines how to handle   HTML entities. The default value, 0 will cause   entites to be convert to normal space characters (ASCII value 32). If this property is set to 1, then  's will be converted to &#160. If set to 2, then &nbps;'s are dropped. If set to 3, then &nbsp's are left unmodified.

top
Utf8
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $htmlToXml->get_Utf8();
$htmlToXml->put_Utf8($boolVal);

When set to 1, all "const char *" arguments are interpreted as utf-8 strings. If set to 0 (the default), then "const char *" arguments are interpreted as ANSI strings. Also, when set to 1, and Chilkat method returning a "const char *" is returning the utf-8 representation. If set to 0, all "const char *" return values are ANSI strings.

top
VerboseLogging
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $htmlToXml->get_VerboseLogging();
$htmlToXml->put_VerboseLogging($boolVal);

If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

top
Version
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_Version($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->version();

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

More Information and Examples
top
XmlCharset
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$htmlToXml->get_XmlCharset($ckStr);
$strVal = $htmlToXml->xmlCharset();
$htmlToXml->put_XmlCharset($strVal);

The charset, such as "utf-8" or "iso-8859-1" of the XML to be created. If XmlCharset is empty, the XML is created in the same character encoding as the HTML. Otherwise the HTML is converted XML and converted to this charset.

top

Methods

ConvertFile
# $inHtmlPath is a string
# $destXmlPath is a string
$status = $htmlToXml->ConvertFile($inHtmlPath, $destXmlPath);

Converts an HTML file to a well-formed XML file that can be parsed for the purpose of programmatically extracting information.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
DropTagType
# $tagName is a string
$htmlToXml->DropTagType($tagName);

Allows for any specified tag to be dropped from the output XML. To drop more than one tag, call this method once for each tag type to be dropped.

top
DropTextFormattingTags
$htmlToXml->DropTextFormattingTags();

Causes text formatting tags to be dropped from the XML output. Text formatting tags are: b, font, i, u, br, center, em, strong, big, tt, s, small, strike, sub, and sup.

More Information and Examples
top
ReadFile
# $path is a string
# $outBytes is a CkByteData (output)
$status = $htmlToXml->ReadFile($path, $outData);

Convenience method for reading a complete file into a byte array.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
ReadFileToString
# $filename is a string
# $srcCharset is a string
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $htmlToXml->ReadFileToString($filename, $srcCharset, $outStr);
$retStr = $htmlToXml->readFileToString($filename, $srcCharset);

Convenience method for reading a text file into a string. The character encoding of the text file is specified by srcCharset. Valid values, such as "iso-8895-1" or "utf-8" are listed at: List of Charsets.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
SetHtmlBd
# $bd is a CkBinData
$status = $htmlToXml->SetHtmlBd($bd);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

Sets the Html property from the contents of bd.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
SetHtmlBytes
# $inData is a CkByteData
$htmlToXml->SetHtmlBytes($inData);

Sets the Html property from a byte array.

top
SetHtmlFromFile
# $filename is a string
$status = $htmlToXml->SetHtmlFromFile($filename);

Sets the Html property by loading the HTML from a file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
SetHtmlSb
# $sb is a CkStringBuilder
$status = $htmlToXml->SetHtmlSb($sb);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.97

Sets the Html property from the contents of sb.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
ToXml
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $htmlToXml->ToXml($outStr);
$retStr = $htmlToXml->toXml();

Converts the HTML in the "Html" property to XML and returns the XML string.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
ToXmlSb
# $sb is a CkStringBuilder
$status = $htmlToXml->ToXmlSb($sb);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

Converts the HTML in the "Html" property to XML and appends the XML to sb.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
UndropTagType
# $tagName is a string
$htmlToXml->UndropTagType($tagName);

Causes a specified type of tag to NOT be dropped in the output XML.

top
UndropTextFormattingTags
$htmlToXml->UndropTextFormattingTags();

Causes text formatting tags to NOT be dropped from the XML output. Text formatting tags are: b, font, i, u, br, center, em, strong, big, tt, s, small, strike, sub, and sup.

Important: Text formatting tags are dropped by default. Call this method to prevent text formatting tags from being dropped.

More Information and Examples
top
WriteFile
# $path is a string
# $fileData is a CkByteData
$status = $htmlToXml->WriteFile($path, $fileData);

Convenience method for saving a byte array to a file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
WriteStringToFile
# $stringToWrite is a string
# $filename is a string
# $charset is a string
$status = $htmlToXml->WriteStringToFile($stringToWrite, $filename, $charset);

Convenience method for saving a string to a file. The character encoding of the output text file is specified by charset (the string is converted to this charset when writing). Valid values, such as "iso-8895-1" or "utf-8" are listed at: List of Charsets.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top
Xml
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $htmlToXml->Xml($outStr);
$retStr = $htmlToXml->xml();

This is the same as the "ToXml" method. It converts the HTML in the "Html" property to XML and returns the XML string.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

top