HtmlToXml C++ Reference Documentation

CkHtmlToXml

Current Version: 10.1.2

Requires Chilkat Bundle License

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

Object Creation

// Local variable on the stack
CkHtmlToXml obj;

// Dynamically allocate/delete
CkHtmlToXml *pObj = new CkHtmlToXml();
// ...
delete pObj;

Properties

DebugLogFilePath

void get_DebugLogFilePath(CkString &str);
const char *debugLogFilePath(void);
void put_DebugLogFilePath(const char *ansiOrUtf8Str);

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.

More Information and Examples

Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.

DropCustomTags

bool get_DropCustomTags(void);
void put_DropCustomTags(bool newVal);

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

Html

void get_Html(CkString &str);
const char *html(void);
void put_Html(const char *ansiOrUtf8Str);

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.

LastErrorHtml

void get_LastErrorHtml(CkString &str);
const char *lastErrorHtml(void);

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.

LastErrorText

void get_LastErrorText(CkString &str);
const char *lastErrorText(void);

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.

More Information and Examples

Concept of LastErrorText LastErrorText Standard Information

LastErrorXml

void get_LastErrorXml(CkString &str);
const char *lastErrorXml(void);

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.

LastMethodSuccess

bool get_LastMethodSuccess(void);
void put_LastMethodSuccess(bool newVal);

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: true means success, false 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.

Nbsp

int get_Nbsp(void);
void put_Nbsp(int newVal);

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.

Utf8

bool get_Utf8(void);
void put_Utf8(bool newVal);

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

VerboseLogging

bool get_VerboseLogging(void);
void put_VerboseLogging(bool newVal);

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

Version

void get_Version(CkString &str);
const char *version(void);

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

More Information and Examples

How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.

XmlCharset

void get_XmlCharset(CkString &str);
const char *xmlCharset(void);
void put_XmlCharset(const char *ansiOrUtf8Str);

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.

Methods

ConvertFile

bool ConvertFile(const char *inHtmlPath, const char *destXmlPath);

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.

DropTagType

void DropTagType(const char *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.

DropTextFormattingTags

void DropTextFormattingTags(void);

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

Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

ReadFile

bool ReadFile(const char *path, CkByteData &outBytes);

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.

ReadFileToString

bool ReadFileToString(const char *filename, const char *srcCharset, CkString &outStr);
const char *readFileToString(const char *filename, const char *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 true for success, false for failure.

SetHtmlBd

bool SetHtmlBd(CkBinData &bd);

Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

Sets the Html property from the contents of bd.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples

HTML Table to CSV

SetHtmlBytes

void SetHtmlBytes(CkByteData &inData);

Sets the Html property from a byte array.

SetHtmlFromFile

bool SetHtmlFromFile(const char *filename);

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.

SetHtmlSb

bool SetHtmlSb(CkStringBuilder &sb);

Introduced in version 9.5.0.97

Sets the Html property from the contents of sb.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

ToXml

bool ToXml(CkString &outStr);
const char *toXml(void);

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples

Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text

ToXmlSb

bool ToXmlSb(CkStringBuilder &sb);

Introduced in version 9.5.0.77

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples

HTML Table to CSV

UndropTagType

void UndropTagType(const char *tagName);

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

UndropTextFormattingTags

void UndropTextFormattingTags(void);

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

Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

WriteFile

bool WriteFile(const char *path, CkByteData &fileData);

Convenience method for saving a byte array to a file.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

WriteStringToFile

bool WriteStringToFile(const char *stringToWrite, const char *filename, const char *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 true for success, false for failure.

Xml

bool Xml(CkString &outStr);
const char *xml(void);

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

Returns true for success, false for failure.