Re: command line html validation

Hi Chelton
 
I've been looking at exactly the same thing the last few days, and although I don't have a direct answer for you this might be useful - also worth pointing out I'm pretty new to this w3c validator stuff so can't guarantee the accuracy of my answers!
 
Firstly, there's an amended version of the W3C Validator script (from pre-emptive) which has been customised to look at local files, however it's a few versions out of date and as I've not used this I can't vouch for it.
http://www.pre-emptive.net/doco/w3cvalidator-command-line-html-validator 
In theory customising the existing validator to use local files shouldn't be difficult but its not something I've had time to look at yet. Perhaps command line/batch use is something which could be added to a future release of the W3C validator? It seems to be something a lot of users ask for.
 
Personally I chose to (temporarily) use the WDG Validator script:
http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/index.html.en 
Although not the W3C validator, it does already have support for command-line use with very straightforward syntax and seems to provide the same info as the W3C version. It also has far less dependencies than the W3C validator and thus far easier to install. Since it only requires the filename to check and outputs the results directly, I'm intending to use the WDG validator for now (to get the rest of my process working) and then write an interface to the W3C one which can replace the WDG version when (if) I have a bit of spare time on my hands.
 
Another alternative is to look at nsgmls or lq-nsgmls - although I don't know all that much about them, I gather they're SGML parsers with support for document validation and they're the ones apparently used by WDG Validator, perhaps these can output in a more usable format? I think lq-nsgmls also has specific HTML validation support.
 
Regards
Ian Kent

>>> On 09/12/2010 at 02:33, in message <105853.71588.qm@web38606.mail.mud.yahoo.com>, Chelton Evans <chelton.evans@yahoo.com> wrote:
While following validator.w3.org/docs/install.html I noticed set 4 had check with a url reference.  Is it possible to use the validator to look at local files. 

I am interested in parsing or getting the information before it is put into a html page.  Is there a way to generate xml data as an error/warning list.

Then could feed this to my tool chain or vim. In essence I would like to use the validator not as a web service but a text parser/xml tool. For example to batch process directories with many html files and generate reports.

kind regards
Chelton Evans





  




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