HtmlToXml Unicode C 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.

Create/Dispose

HCkHtmlToXmlW instance = CkHtmlToXmlW_Create();
// ...
CkHtmlToXmlW_Dispose(instance);

HCkHtmlToXmlW CkHtmlToXmlW_Create(void);

Creates an instance of the HCkHtmlToXmlW object and returns a handle ("void *" pointer). The handle is passed in the 1st argument for the functions listed on this page.

void CkHtmlToXmlW_Dispose(HCkHtmlToXmlW handle);

Objects created by calling CkHtmlToXmlW_Create must be freed by calling this method. A memory leak occurs if a handle is not disposed by calling this function. Also, any handle returned by a Chilkat "C" function must also be freed by the application by calling the appropriate Dispose method, such as CkHtmlToXmlW_Dispose.

Properties

DebugLogFilePath

void CkHtmlToXmlW_getDebugLogFilePath(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putDebugLogFilePath(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *newVal);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_debugLogFilePath(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getDropCustomTags(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putDropCustomTags(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, BOOL newVal);

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

Html

void CkHtmlToXmlW_getHtml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putHtml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *newVal);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_html(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getLastErrorHtml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_lastErrorHtml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getLastErrorText(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_lastErrorText(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getLastErrorXml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_lastErrorXml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getLastMethodSuccess(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putLastMethodSuccess(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, 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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getNbsp(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putNbsp(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, 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.

VerboseLogging

BOOL CkHtmlToXmlW_getVerboseLogging(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putVerboseLogging(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, 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 CkHtmlToXmlW_getVersion(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_version(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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

More Information and Examples

How to get the Chilkat version at runtime.

XmlCharset

void CkHtmlToXmlW_getXmlCharset(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkString retval);
void CkHtmlToXmlW_putXmlCharset(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *newVal);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_xmlCharset(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_ConvertFile(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *inHtmlPath, const wchar_t *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 CkHtmlToXmlW_DropTagType(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *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 CkHtmlToXmlW_DropTextFormattingTags(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_ReadFile(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *path, const unsigned char * outBytes);

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

Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.

ReadFileToString

BOOL CkHtmlToXmlW_ReadFileToString(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *filename, const wchar_t *srcCharset, const wchar_t *outStr);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_readFileToString(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *filename, const wchar_t *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 CkHtmlToXmlW_SetHtmlBd(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkBinDataW 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 CkHtmlToXmlW_SetHtmlBytes(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkByteData inData);

Sets the Html property from a byte array.

SetHtmlFromFile

BOOL CkHtmlToXmlW_SetHtmlFromFile(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *filename);

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

Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.

SetHtmlSb

BOOL CkHtmlToXmlW_SetHtmlSb(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkStringBuilderW 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 CkHtmlToXmlW_ToXml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *outStr);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_toXml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_ToXmlSb(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, HCkStringBuilderW 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 CkHtmlToXmlW_UndropTagType(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *tagName);

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

UndropTextFormattingTags

void CkHtmlToXmlW_UndropTextFormattingTags(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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 CkHtmlToXmlW_WriteFile(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *path, HCkByteData fileData);

Convenience method for saving a byte array to a file.

Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.

WriteStringToFile

BOOL CkHtmlToXmlW_WriteStringToFile(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *stringToWrite, const wchar_t *filename, const wchar_t *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 CkHtmlToXmlW_Xml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle, const wchar_t *outStr);
const wchar_t *CkHtmlToXmlW_xml(HCkHtmlToXmlW cHandle);

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.