HtmlToXml SQL Server Reference Documentation
HtmlToXml
Current Version: 11.6.0
Chilkat.HtmlToXml
Convert real-world HTML into well-formed XML that can be loaded into
Supply HTML from strings, files, byte arrays,
Remove specific tag types from the output when the application wants a
cleaner XML result focused on relevant content.
Drop common formatting tags when the structure matters more than visual
presentation.
Control how non-breaking spaces are represented, converted, removed, or
preserved in the XML output.
Choose the XML charset and write the converted XML directly to a file
when a persisted result is needed.
For an extended overview, see
HtmlToXml Class Overview.
Convert HTML into well-formed XML for structured parsing and searching.
Chilkat.HtmlToXml converts HTML into well-formed XML so the
content can be parsed, searched, transformed, or processed programmatically
with XML tools. It can accept HTML from strings, files, byte arrays,
BinData, or StringBuilder, and provides options for
dropping selected tags, removing common text-formatting tags, controlling
non-breaking spaces, choosing the XML charset, and saving the converted XML
to a file.
HTML to XML conversion
Chilkat.Xml or other XML processing tools.
Flexible input sources
BinData, or
StringBuilder depending on how the content is received or
built.
Drop selected tags
Text-formatting cleanup
NBSP handling
Charset and file output
Nbsp behavior, and
XmlCharset, then call the conversion method and parse the result
as XML. Use HtmlToXml when structured extraction is needed; use
HtmlToText when the goal is readable plain text.
Object Creation
DECLARE @hr int
DECLARE @htmlToXml int
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.HtmlToXml', @htmlToXml OUT
IF @hr <> 0
BEGIN
PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
RETURN
END
-- ... use @htmlToXml ...
EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @htmlToXmlT-SQL uses the Chilkat ActiveX through the OLE Automation stored procedures. They must be enabled once on the server (EXEC sp_configure 'Ole Automation Procedures', 1; RECONFIGURE;), and the Chilkat ActiveX registered must match the bitness of the SQL Server instance (64-bit for a 64-bit SQL Server). To bind to a specific major version of Chilkat, append the major version number to the ProgID, such as sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.HtmlToXml.11' for Chilkat v11.*.*.
sp_OACreate returns an object token (an int) that is passed as the first argument of every sp_OAMethod, sp_OAGetProperty and sp_OASetProperty call, and released with sp_OADestroy. Objects returned by methods (such as an HttpResponse or JsonObject) are also tokens received through an int OUT parameter; they must likewise be destroyed, and the OUT parameter is NULL when the method fails to return an object. Objects passed as arguments are passed by their token. When an OLE Automation procedure itself fails (non-zero @hr), sp_OAGetErrorInfo describes the error.
Data types: strings are nvarchar(4000); integers, booleans (1 or 0) and object tokens are int; dates are datetime. In the signatures on this page, @success, @iResult, @sResult and the like are the OUT variables receiving a method's return value, @iValue / @sValue receive or supply a property value, and the remaining @ variables are the method's arguments in order.
A string returned through an OUT parameter is limited to 4000 characters. For longer values, retrieve the result as a result set into a table variable instead of an OUT parameter, for example DECLARE @tmp TABLE (outputLine ntext) followed by INSERT INTO @tmp EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @htmlToXml, 'LastErrorText'. See string length limitations for strings returned by sp_OAMethod calls.
Methods that pass or return raw byte arrays are not shown on this page, because varbinary(max) values cannot be exchanged through sp_OAMethod (see varbinary(max) limitation). Use the BinData-based alternatives (methods ending in Bd) or the base64 / hex string-encoded variants instead. Binary properties (such as LastBinaryResult) can be retrieved as a result set into a table variable, as shown in their signatures. Asynchronous (*Async) methods and event callbacks are not available from SQL Server.
Properties
DebugLogFilePath
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'DebugLogFilePath', @sValue
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
DropCustomTags
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'DropCustomTags', @iValue
Controls whether tags that Chilkat does not recognize as standard HTML elements are omitted from the generated XML.
1 when custom or application-specific tags would add noise to the XML structure. Leave it 0 when those tags are meaningful to the application and should remain represented in the converted output.Html
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'Html', @sValue
The HTML source to be converted. Set this property to an HTML string, configure any conversion options, and then call ToXml, Xml, or ToXmlSb.
Assigning this property replaces the current in-memory HTML source. For file-to-file conversion, use ConvertFile. To load HTML from a file, BinData, or StringBuilder, use the corresponding SetHtml* method.
<text> elements to simplify programmatic extraction.LastBinaryResult
This property is mainly used in SQL Server stored procedures to retrieve binary data from the last method call that returned binary data. It is only accessible if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This feature allows for the retrieval of large varbinary results in an SQL Server environment, which has restrictions on returning large data via method calls, though temp tables can handle binary properties.
LastErrorHtml
Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastErrorText
Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
LastErrorXml
Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastMethodSuccess
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'LastMethodSuccess', @iValue
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: 1 means success, 0 means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
LastStringResult
In SQL Server stored procedures, this property holds the string return value of the most recent method call that returns a string. It is accessible only when Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to TRUE. SQL Server has limitations on string lengths returned from methods and properties, but temp tables can be used to access large strings.
LastStringResultLen
The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.
topNbsp
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'Nbsp', @iValue
Controls how HTML non-breaking-space entities are handled during conversion. The default value is 0.
| Value | Behavior for |
|---|---|
0 | Convert to a normal space character (U+0020). |
1 | Convert to the numeric character reference   (U+00A0). |
2 | Drop the non-breaking-space entity. |
3 | Leave the entity unconverted by this option. |
This setting applies specifically to the HTML entity ; it does not define general whitespace normalization.
VerboseLogging
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'VerboseLogging', @iValue
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.
Version
XmlCharset
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @htmlToXml, 'XmlCharset', @sValue
Specifies the character encoding to identify for the generated XML, such as utf-8 or iso-8859-1. If this property is empty, Chilkat uses the character encoding of the HTML input. Otherwise, the converted XML uses the specified charset.
ToXml or Xml is a string in the programming language's native string representation, while the XML declaration reflects XmlCharset. When writing that string to a file, use the same charset so the file bytes agree with the XML declaration. ConvertFile performs the file conversion directly.Methods
ConvertFile
Converts the HTML file at inHtmlPath to a well-formed XML file at destXmlPath. The output encoding is controlled by XmlCharset; if XmlCharset is empty, Chilkat uses the HTML source encoding.
Returns 1 on success and 0 on failure.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topDropTagType
Marks the specified HTML tag type to be dropped from the generated XML. To drop multiple tag types, call this method once for each tag name.
The setting remains in effect for subsequent conversions performed by this HtmlToXml object. Use UndropTagType to reverse the setting for a particular tag type.
DropTextFormattingTags
Configures the converter to drop common text-formatting tags from the generated XML. The affected tag names are:
b, font, i, u, br, center, em, strong, big, tt, s, small, strike, sub, and sup.
This is useful when the formatting markup is not relevant to later XML parsing and the application wants a simpler structural representation. Call UndropTextFormattingTags to keep these tags instead.
SetHtmlBd
Replaces the current HTML source with the complete contents of bd.
The data is copied from the supplied BinData object and becomes the input for a later call to ToXml, Xml, or ToXmlSb. Returns 1 on success and 0 on failure.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
SetHtmlFromFile
Loads HTML from filename and replaces the current Html input with the file contents.
Returns 1 on success and 0 if the file cannot be read or the HTML input cannot be loaded. Call ToXml, Xml, or ToXmlSb afterward to perform the conversion.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topSetHtmlSb
Replaces the current HTML source with the complete contents of sb.
The text is copied from the supplied StringBuilder and becomes the input for a later call to ToXml, Xml, or ToXmlSb. Returns 1 on success and 0 on failure.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topToXml
Converts the current Html input to well-formed XML and returns the XML string. The generated XML uses the conversion settings currently configured on this object, including DropCustomTags, dropped tag types, Nbsp, and XmlCharset.
<text> elements to make extraction with XML tools straightforward.Returns NULL on failure
ToXmlSb
Converts the current Html input to well-formed XML and appends the generated XML to sb.
Returns 1 on success and 0 on failure. Because the result is appended, clear the destination StringBuilder first when replacement rather than concatenation is desired.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
UndropTagType
Reverses a previous DropTagType setting for the specified tag name so that tag type is no longer intentionally dropped from subsequent XML output.
This affects only the named tag type. Other tag types previously configured to be dropped remain unchanged.
topUndropTextFormattingTags
Configures the converter to retain the common text-formatting tags that are otherwise dropped by default:
b, font, i, u, br, center, em, strong, big, tt, s, small, strike, sub, and sup.
Call DropTextFormattingTags to return to dropping these formatting tags.
Deprecated
ReadFileToString
Reads the complete text file at filename and decodes its bytes using srcCharset, such as utf-8 or iso-8859-1. Returns the decoded text string.
Html property or perform a conversion.Returns NULL on failure
WriteStringToFile
Encodes stringToWrite using charset and writes the resulting text to filename. Typical charset names include utf-8 and iso-8859-1.
Returns 1 on success and 0 on failure.
ToXml, use a charset that agrees with the XML declaration, normally the same value configured in XmlCharset.Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
top