XML::TreeBuilder(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation XML::TreeBuilder(3)NAMEXML::TreeBuilder - Parser that builds a tree of XML::Element objects
SYNOPSIS
foreach my $file_name (@ARGV) {
my $tree = XML::TreeBuilder->new({ 'NoExpand' => 0, 'ErrorContext' => 0 }); # empty tree
$tree->parse_file($file_name);
print "Hey, here's a dump of the parse tree of $file_name:\n";
$tree->dump; # a method we inherit from XML::Element
print "And here it is, bizarrely rerendered as XML:\n",
$tree->as_XML, "\n";
# Now that we're done with it, we must destroy it.
$tree = $tree->delete;
}
DESCRIPTION
This module uses XML::Parser to make XML document trees constructed of
XML::Element objects (and XML::Element is a subclass of HTML::Element
adapted for XML). XML::TreeBuilder is meant particularly for people
who are used to the HTML::TreeBuilder / HTML::Element interface to
document trees, and who don't want to learn some other document
interface like XML::Twig or XML::DOM.
The way to use this class is to:
1. start a new (empty) XML::TreeBuilder object.
2. set any of the "store" options you want.
3. then parse the document from a source by calling
"$x->parsefile(...)" or "$x->parse(...)" (See XML::Parser docs for the
options that these two methods take)
4. do whatever you need to do with the syntax tree, presumably
involving traversing it looking for some bit of information in it,
5. and finally, when you're done with the tree, call $tree->delete to
erase the contents of the tree from memory. This kind of thing usually
isn't necessary with most Perl objects, but it's necessary for
TreeBuilder objects. See HTML::Element for a more verbose explanation
of why this is the case.
METHODS AND ATTRIBUTESXML::TreeBuilder is a subclass of XML::Element, which in turn is a
subclass of HTML:Element. You should read and understand the
documentation for those two modules.
An XML::TreeBuilder object is just a special XML::Element object that
allows you to call these additional methods:
$root = XML::TreeBuilder->new()
Construct a new XML::TreeBuilder object.
Parameters:
NoExpand
Passed to XML::Parser. Do not Expand external entities.
Deafult: undef
ErrorContext
Passed to XML::Parser. Number of context lines to generate on errors.
Deafult: undef
$root->eof
Deletes parser object.
$root->parse(...options...)
Uses XML::Parser's "parse" method to parse XML from the source(s?)
specified by the options. See XML::Parse
$root->parsefile(...options...)
Uses XML::Parser's "parsefile" method to parse XML from the
source(s?) specified by the options. See XML::Parse
$root->parse_file(...options...)
Simply an alias for "parsefile".
$root->store_comments(value)
This determines whether TreeBuilder will normally store comments
found while parsing content into $root. Currently, this is off by
default.
$root->store_declarations(value)
This determines whether TreeBuilder will normally store markup
declarations found while parsing content into $root. Currently,
this is off by default.
$root->store_pis(value)
This determines whether TreeBuilder will normally store processing
instructions found while parsing content into $root. Currently,
this is off (false) by default.
SEE ALSO
XML::Parser, XML::Element, HTML::TreeBuilder, HTML::DOMbo.
And for alternate XML document interfaces, XML::DOM and XML::Twig.
COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS
Copyright (c) 2000,2004 Sean M. Burke. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
AUTHOR
Sean M. Burke, <sburke@cpan.org>
perl v5.14.1 2010-11-24 XML::TreeBuilder(3)