HtmlToXml Tcl Reference Documentation

HtmlToXml

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

set myHtmlToXml [new CkHtmlToXml]

Properties

DebugLogFilePath

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_DebugLogFilePath $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_debugLogFilePath $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_DebugLogFilePath $myHtmlToXml $strVal

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

boolean 1/0
set boolVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_DropCustomTags $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_DropCustomTags $myHtmlToXml $boolVal

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

Html

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_Html $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_html $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_Html $myHtmlToXml $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.

LastErrorHtml

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_LastErrorHtml $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_lastErrorHtml $myHtmlToXml]

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

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_LastErrorText $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_lastErrorText $myHtmlToXml]

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

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_LastErrorXml $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_lastErrorXml $myHtmlToXml]

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

boolean 1/0
set boolVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_LastMethodSuccess $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_LastMethodSuccess $myHtmlToXml $boolVal

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.

Nbsp

integer
set intVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_Nbsp $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_Nbsp $myHtmlToXml $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.

Utf8

boolean 1/0
set boolVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_Utf8 $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_Utf8 $myHtmlToXml $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.

VerboseLogging

boolean 1/0
set boolVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_VerboseLogging $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_VerboseLogging $myHtmlToXml $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.

Version

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_Version $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_version $myHtmlToXml]

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

More Information and Examples

How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.

XmlCharset

string
# ckStr is a CkString
CkHtmlToXml_get_XmlCharset $myHtmlToXml $ckStr
set strVal [CkHtmlToXml_get_xmlCharset $myHtmlToXml]
CkHtmlToXml_put_XmlCharset $myHtmlToXml $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.

Methods

ConvertFile

# inHtmlPath is a string
# destXmlPath is a string
set status [CkHtmlToXml_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.

DropTagType

# tagName is a string
CkHtmlToXml_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.

DropTextFormattingTags

CkHtmlToXml_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

Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

ReadFile

# path is a string
# outBytes is a CkByteData (output)
set status [CkHtmlToXml_ReadFile $path $outData]

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

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

ReadFileToString

# filename is a string
# srcCharset is a string
# outStr is a CkString (output)
set status [CkHtmlToXml_ReadFileToString $filename $srcCharset $outStr]
set retStr [CkHtmlToXml_readFileToString $myHtmlToXml $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.

SetHtmlBd

# bd is a CkBinData
set status [CkHtmlToXml_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

HTML Table to CSV

SetHtmlBytes

# inData is a CkByteData
CkHtmlToXml_SetHtmlBytes $inData

Sets the Html property from a byte array.

SetHtmlFromFile

# filename is a string
set status [CkHtmlToXml_SetHtmlFromFile $filename]

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

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

SetHtmlSb

# sb is a CkStringBuilder
set status [CkHtmlToXml_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.

ToXml

# outStr is a CkString (output)
set status [CkHtmlToXml_ToXml $outStr]
set retStr [CkHtmlToXml_toXml $myHtmlToXml]

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

Convert an HTML Table to Plain-Text

ToXmlSb

# sb is a CkStringBuilder
set status [CkHtmlToXml_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

HTML Table to CSV

UndropTagType

# tagName is a string
CkHtmlToXml_UndropTagType $tagName

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

UndropTextFormattingTags

CkHtmlToXml_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

Drop/Undrop Text Formatting Tags

WriteFile

# path is a string
# fileData is a CkByteData
set status [CkHtmlToXml_WriteFile $path $fileData]

Convenience method for saving a byte array to a file.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

WriteStringToFile

# stringToWrite is a string
# filename is a string
# charset is a string
set status [CkHtmlToXml_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.

Xml

# outStr is a CkString (output)
set status [CkHtmlToXml_Xml $outStr]
set retStr [CkHtmlToXml_xml $myHtmlToXml]

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.