HtmlToXml ActiveX Reference Documentation

HtmlToXml

Current Version: 10.1.0

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

Note:
For versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0, use "Chilkat_9_5_0.HtmlToXml" instead of "Chilkat.HtmlToXml"
For a specific major version, use "Chilkat.HtmlToXml.<major_version>", such as "Chilkat.HtmlToXml.10" for Chilkat v10.*.*
See Chilkat ActiveX Object Creation

(ASP)
set obj = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat.HtmlToXml")

(AutoIt)
$obj = ObjCreate("Chilkat.HtmlToXml")

(Visual Basic 6.0)
Dim obj As New HtmlToXml

(VBScript)
set obj = CreateObject("Chilkat.HtmlToXml")

(Delphi)
obj := THtmlToXml.Create(Self);

(FoxPro)
loObject = CreateObject('Chilkat.HtmlToXml')

(PowerBuilder)
lole_object = create oleobject
li_rc = lole_object.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.HtmlToXml")

(SQL Server)
EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.HtmlToXml', @obj OUT

(Javascript)
var obj = new ActiveXObject("Chilkat.HtmlToXml");

Properties

DebugLogFilePath

DebugLogFilePath As String

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:

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

More Information and Examples

(AutoIt) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(Classic ASP) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(PowerBuilder) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(SQL Server) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(VBScript) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(Visual Basic 6.0) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.(Visual FoxPro) Example showing how to use DebugLogFilePath.

DropCustomTags

DropCustomTags As Long

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

Html

Html As String

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.

LastBinaryResult

LastBinaryResult As Variant (read-only)

The binary data returned by the last (binary data returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large varbinary results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting large amounts of data returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for binary properties).

LastErrorHtml

LastErrorHtml As String (read-only)

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.

LastErrorText

LastErrorText As String (read-only)

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.

More Information and Examples

Concept of LastErrorText LastErrorText Standard Information

LastErrorXml

LastErrorXml As String (read-only)

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.

LastMethodSuccess

LastMethodSuccess As Long

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.

LastStringResult

LastStringResult As String (read-only)

The string return value of the last (string returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large string results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting long strings returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for string properties).

More Information and Examples

Long Strings Returned by ActiveX Methods in SQL Server

LastStringResultLen

LastStringResultLen As Long (read-only)

The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.

Nbsp

Nbsp As Long

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.

VerboseLogging

VerboseLogging As Long

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

Version As String (read-only)

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

More Information and Examples

(AutoIt) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(Classic ASP) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(PowerBuilder) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(SQL Server) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(VBScript) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(Visual Basic 6.0) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.(Visual FoxPro) How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.

XmlCharset

XmlCharset As String

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

ConvertFile(inHtmlPath As String, destXmlPath As String) As Long

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.

DropTagType

DropTagType(tagName As String)

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

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

(AutoIt) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Classic ASP) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (PowerBuilder) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (SQL Server) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (VBScript) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Visual Basic 6.0) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Visual FoxPro) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

ReadFile

ReadFile(path As String) As Variant

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

Returns a zero-length byte array (as a Variant) on failure.
An empty array will have a UBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.

ReadFileToString

ReadFileToString(filename As String, srcCharset As String) As String

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 Nothing on failure

SetHtmlBd

SetHtmlBd(bd As ChilkatBinData) As Long

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

(AutoIt) HTML Table to CSV (Classic ASP) HTML Table to CSV (PowerBuilder) HTML Table to CSV (SQL Server) HTML Table to CSV (VBScript) HTML Table to CSV (Visual Basic 6.0) HTML Table to CSV (Visual FoxPro) HTML Table to CSV

SetHtmlBytes

SetHtmlBytes(inData As Variant)

Sets the Html property from a byte array.

SetHtmlFromFile

SetHtmlFromFile(filename As String) As Long

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

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

SetHtmlSb

SetHtmlSb(sb As ChilkatStringBuilder) As Long

Introduced in version 9.5.0.97

Sets the Html property from the contents of sb.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

ToXml

ToXml() As String

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

Returns Nothing on failure

More Information and Examples

(AutoIt) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (Classic ASP) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (PowerBuilder) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (SQL Server) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (VBScript) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (Visual Basic 6.0) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text (Visual FoxPro) Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text

ToXmlSb

ToXmlSb(sb As ChilkatStringBuilder) As Long

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

(AutoIt) HTML Table to CSV (Classic ASP) HTML Table to CSV (PowerBuilder) HTML Table to CSV (SQL Server) HTML Table to CSV (VBScript) HTML Table to CSV (Visual Basic 6.0) HTML Table to CSV (Visual FoxPro) HTML Table to CSV

UndropTagType

UndropTagType(tagName As String)

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

UndropTextFormattingTags

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

(AutoIt) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Classic ASP) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (PowerBuilder) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (SQL Server) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (VBScript) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Visual Basic 6.0) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags (Visual FoxPro) Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

WriteFile

WriteFile(path As String, fileData As Variant) As Long

Convenience method for saving a byte array to a file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

WriteStringToFile

WriteStringToFile(stringToWrite As String, filename As String, charset As String) As Long

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.