HTML(2) HTML(2)
NAME
parsehtml, printitems, validitems, freeitems, freedocinfo,
dimenkind, dimenspec, targetid, targetname, fromStr, toStr -
HTML parser
SYNOPSIS
#include <u.h>
#include <libc.h>
#include <html.h>
Item* parsehtml(uchar* data, int datalen, Rune* src, int mtype,
int chset, Docinfo** pdi)
void printitems(Item* items, char* msg)
int validitems(Item* items)
void freeitems(Item* items)
void freedocinfo(Docinfo* d)
int dimenkind(Dimen d)
int dimenspec(Dimen d)
int targetid(Rune* s)
Rune* targetname(int targid)
uchar* fromStr(Rune* buf, int n, int chset)
Rune* toStr(uchar* buf, int n, int chset)
DESCRIPTION
This library implements a parser for HTML 4.0 documents.
The parsed HTML is converted into an intermediate represen-
tation that describes how the formatted HTML should be laid
out.
Parsehtml parses an entire HTML document contained in the
buffer data and having length datalen. The URL of the docu-
ment should be passed in as src. Mtype is the media type of
the document, which should be either TextHtml or TextPlain.
The character set of the document is described in chset,
which can be one of US_Ascii, ISO_8859_1, UTF_8 or Unicode.
The return value is a linked list of Item structures,
described in detail below. As a side effect, *pdi is set to
point to a newly created Docinfo structure, containing
information pertaining to the entire document.
Page 1 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
The library expects two allocation routines to be provided
by the caller, emalloc and erealloc. These routines are
analogous to the standard malloc and realloc routines,
except that they should not return if the memory allocation
fails. In addition, emalloc is required to zero the memory.
For debugging purposes, printitems may be called to display
the contents of an item list; individual items may be
printed using the %I print verb, installed on the first call
to parsehtml. validitems traverses the item list, checking
that all of the pointers are valid. It returns 1 is every-
thing is ok, and 0 if an error was found. Normally, one
would not call these routines directly. Instead, one sets
the global variable dbgbuild and the library calls them
automatically. One can also set warn, to cause the library
to print a warning whenever it finds a problem with the
input document, and dbglex, to print debugging information
in the lexer.
When an item list is finished with, it should be freed with
freeitems. Then, freedocinfo should be called on the pointer
returned in *pdi.
Dimenkind and dimenspec are provided to interpret the Dimen
type, as described in the section Dimension Specifications.
Frame target names are mapped to integer ids via a global,
permanent mapping. To find the value for a given name, call
targetid, which allocates a new id if the name hasn't been
seen before. The name of a given, known id may be retrieved
using targetname. The library predefines FTtop, FTself,
FTparent and FTblank.
The library handles all text as Unicode strings (type
Rune*). Character set conversion is provided by fromStr and
toStr. FromStr takes n Unicode characters from buf and con-
verts them to the character set described by chset. ToStr
takes n bytes from buf, interpretted as belonging to charac-
ter set chset, and converts them to a Unicode string. Both
routines null-terminate the result, and use emalloc to allo-
cate space for it.
Items
The return value of parsehtml is a linked list of variant
structures, with the generic portion described by the fol-
lowing definition:
typedef struct Item Item;
struct Item
{
Item* next;
int width;
Page 2 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
int height;
int ascent;
int anchorid;
int state;
Genattr* genattr;
int tag;
};
The field next points to the successor in the linked list of
items, while width, height, and ascent are intended for use
by the caller as part of the layout process. Anchorid, if
non-zero, gives the integer id assigned by the parser to the
anchor that this item is in (see section Anchors). State is
a collection of flags and values described as follows:
enum
{
IFbrk = 0x80000000,
IFbrksp = 0x40000000,
IFnobrk = 0x20000000,
IFcleft = 0x10000000,
IFcright = 0x08000000,
IFwrap = 0x04000000,
IFhang = 0x02000000,
IFrjust = 0x01000000,
IFcjust = 0x00800000,
IFsmap = 0x00400000,
IFindentshift = 8,
IFindentmask = (255<<IFindentshift),
IFhangmask = 255
};
IFbrk is set if a break is to be forced before placing this
item. IFbrksp is set if a 1 line space should be added to
the break (in which case IFbrk is also set). IFnobrk is set
if a break is not permitted before the item. IFcleft is set
if left floats should be cleared (that is, if the list of
pending left floats should be placed) before this item is
placed, and IFcright is set for right floats. In both
cases, IFbrk is also set. IFwrap is set if the line con-
taining this item is allowed to wrap. IFhang is set if this
item hangs into the left indent. IFrjust is set if the line
containing this item should be right justified, and IFcjust
is set for center justified lines. IFsmap is used to indi-
cate that an image is a server-side map. The low 8 bits,
represented by IFhangmask, indicate the current hang into
left indent, in tenths of a tabstop. The next 8 bits, rep-
resented by IFindentmask and IFindentshift, indicate the
current indent in tab stops.
The field genattr is an optional pointer to an auxiliary
structure, described in the section Generic Attributes.
Page 3 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
Finally, tag describes which variant type this item has. It
can have one of the values Itexttag, Iruletag, Iimagetag,
Iformfieldtag, Itabletag, Ifloattag or Ispacertag. For each
of these values, there is an additional structure defined,
which includes Item as an unnamed initial substructure, and
then defines additional fields.
Items of type Itexttag represent a piece of text, using the
following structure:
struct Itext
{
Item;
Rune* s;
int fnt;
int fg;
uchar voff;
uchar ul;
};
Here s is a null-terminated Unicode string of the actual
characters making up this text item, fnt is the font number
(described in the section Font Numbers), and fg is the RGB
encoded color for the text. Voff measures the vertical off-
set from the baseline; subtract Voffbias to get the actual
value (negative values represent a displacement down the
page). The field ul is the underline style: ULnone if no
underline, ULunder for conventional underline, and ULmid for
strike-through.
Items of type Iruletag represent a horizontal rule, as fol-
lows:
struct Irule
{
Item;
uchar align;
uchar noshade;
int size;
Dimen wspec;
};
Here align is the alignment specification (described in the
corresponding section), noshade is set if the rule should
not be shaded, size is the height of the rule (as set by the
size attribute), and wspec is the desired width (see section
Dimension Specifications).
Items of type Iimagetag describe embedded images, for which
the following structure is defined:
struct Iimage
Page 4 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
{
Item;
Rune* imsrc;
int imwidth;
int imheight;
Rune* altrep;
Map* map;
int ctlid;
uchar align;
uchar hspace;
uchar vspace;
uchar border;
Iimage* nextimage;
};
Here imsrc is the URL of the image source, imwidth and
imheight, if non-zero, contain the specified width and
height for the image, and altrep is the text to use as an
alternative to the image, if the image is not displayed.
Map, if set, points to a structure describing an associated
client-side image map. Ctlid is reserved for use by the
application, for handling animated images. Align encodes
the alignment specification of the image. Hspace contains
the number of pixels to pad the image with on either side,
and Vspace the padding above and below. Border is the width
of the border to draw around the image. Nextimage points to
the next image in the document (the head of this list is
Docinfo.images).
For items of type Iformfieldtag, the following structure is
defined:
struct Iformfield
{
Item;
Formfield* formfield;
};
This adds a single field, formfield, which points to a
structure describing a field in a form, described in section
Forms.
For items of type Itabletag, the following structure is
defined:
struct Itable
{
Item;
Table* table;
};
Table points to a structure describing the table, described
Page 5 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
in the section Tables.
For items of type Ifloattag, the following structure is
defined:
struct Ifloat
{
Item;
Item* item;
int x;
int y;
uchar side;
uchar infloats;
Ifloat* nextfloat;
};
The item points to a single item (either a table or an
image) that floats (the text of the document flows around
it), and side indicates the margin that this float sticks
to; it is either ALleft or ALright. X and y are reserved
for use by the caller; these are typically used for the
coordinates of the top of the float. Infloats is used by
the caller to keep track of whether it has placed the float.
Nextfloat is used by the caller to link together all of the
floats that it has placed.
For items of type Ispacertag, the following structure is
defined:
struct Ispacer
{
Item;
int spkind;
};
Spkind encodes the kind of spacer, and may be one of ISPnull
(zero height and width), ISPvline (takes on height and
ascent of the current font), ISPhspace (has the width of a
space in the current font) and ISPgeneral (for all other
purposes, such as between markers and lists).
Generic Attributes
The genattr field of an item, if non-nil, points to a struc-
ture that holds the values of attributes not specific to any
particular item type, as they occur on a wide variety of
underlying HTML tags. The structure is as follows:
typedef struct Genattr Genattr;
struct Genattr
{
Rune* id;
Rune* class;
Page 6 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
Rune* style;
Rune* title;
SEvent* events;
};
Fields id, class, style and title, when non-nil, contain
values of correspondingly named attributes of the HTML tag
associated with this item. Events is a linked list of
events (with corresponding scripted actions) associated with
the item:
typedef struct SEvent SEvent;
struct SEvent
{
SEvent* next;
int type;
Rune* script;
};
Here, next points to the next event in the list, type is one
of SEonblur, SEonchange, SEonclick, SEondblclick, SEonfocus,
SEonkeypress, SEonkeyup, SEonload, SEonmousedown,
SEonmousemove, SEonmouseout, SEonmouseover, SEonmouseup,
SEonreset, SEonselect, SEonsubmit or SEonunload, and script
is the text of the associated script.
Dimension Specifications
Some structures include a dimension specification, used
where a number can be followed by a % or a * to indicate
percentage of total or relative weight. This is encoded
using the following structure:
typedef struct Dimen Dimen;
struct Dimen
{
int kindspec;
};
Separate kind and spec values are extracted using dimenkind
and dimenspec. Dimenkind returns one of Dnone, Dpixels,
Dpercent or Drelative. Dnone means that no dimension was
specified. In all other cases, dimenspec should be called
to find the absolute number of pixels, the percentage of
total, or the relative weight.
Background Specifications
It is possible to set the background of the entire document,
and also for some parts of the document (such as tables).
This is encoded as follows:
typedef struct Background Background;
struct Background
Page 7 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
{
Rune* image;
int color;
};
Image, if non-nil, is the URL of an image to use as the
background. If this is nil, color is used instead, as the
RGB value for a solid fill color.
Alignment Specifications
Certain items have alignment specifiers taken from the fol-
lowing enumerated type:
enum
{
ALnone = 0, ALleft, ALcenter, ALright, ALjustify,
ALchar, ALtop, ALmiddle, ALbottom, ALbaseline
};
These values correspond to the various alignment types named
in the HTML 4.0 standard. If an item has an alignment of
ALleft or ALright, the library automatically encapsulates it
inside a float item.
Tables, and the various rows, columns and cells within them,
have a more complex alignment specification, composed of
separate vertical and horizontal alignments:
typedef struct Align Align;
struct Align
{
uchar halign;
uchar valign;
};
Halign can be one of ALnone, ALleft, ALcenter, ALright,
ALjustify or ALchar. Valign can be one of ALnone, ALmiddle,
ALbottom, ALtop or ALbaseline.
Font Numbers
Text items have an associated font number (the fnt field),
which is encoded as style*NumSize+size. Here, style is one
of FntR, FntI, FntB or FntT, for roman, italic, bold and
typewriter font styles, respectively, and size is Tiny,
Small, Normal, Large or Verylarge. The total number of pos-
sible font numbers is NumFnt, and the default font number is
DefFnt (which is roman style, normal size).
Document Info
Global information about an HTML page is stored in the fol-
lowing structure:
Page 8 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
typedef struct Docinfo Docinfo;
struct Docinfo
{
// stuff from HTTP headers, doc head, and body tag
Rune* src;
Rune* base;
Rune* doctitle;
Background background;
Iimage* backgrounditem;
int text;
int link;
int vlink;
int alink;
int target;
int chset;
int mediatype;
int scripttype;
int hasscripts;
Rune* refresh;
Kidinfo* kidinfo;
int frameid;
// info needed to respond to user actions
Anchor* anchors;
DestAnchor* dests;
Form* forms;
Table* tables;
Map* maps;
Iimage* images;
};
Src gives the URL of the original source of the document,
and base is the base URL. Doctitle is the document's title,
as set by a <title> element. Background is as described in
the section Background Specifications, and backgrounditem is
set to be an image item for the document's background image
(if given as a URL), or else nil. Text gives the default
foregound text color of the document, link the unvisited
hyperlink color, vlink the visited hyperlink color, and
alink the color for highlighting hyperlinks (all in 24-bit
RGB format). Target is the default target frame id. Chset
and mediatype are as for the chset and mtype parameters to
parsehtml. Scripttype is the type of any scripts contained
in the document, and is always TextJavascript. Hasscripts
is set if the document contains any scripts. Scripting is
currently unsupported. Refresh is the contents of a <meta
http-equiv=Refresh ...> tag, if any. Kidinfo is set if this
document is a frameset (see section Frames). Frameid is this
document's frame id.
Anchors is a list of hyperlinks contained in the document,
and dests is a list of hyperlink destinations within the
Page 9 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
page (see the following section for details). Forms, tables
and maps are lists of the various forms, tables and client-
side maps contained in the document, as described in subse-
quent sections. Images is a list of all the image items in
the document.
Anchors
The library builds two lists for all of the <a> elements
(anchors) in a document. Each anchor is assigned a unique
anchor id within the document. For anchors which are hyper-
links (the href attribute was supplied), the following
structure is defined:
typedef struct Anchor Anchor;
struct Anchor
{
Anchor* next;
int index;
Rune* name;
Rune* href;
int target;
};
Next points to the next anchor in the list (the head of this
list is Docinfo.anchors). Index is the anchor id; each item
within this hyperlink is tagged with this value in its
anchorid field. Name and href are the values of the corre-
spondingly named attributes of the anchor (in particular,
href is the URL to go to). Target is the value of the tar-
get attribute (if provided) converted to a frame id.
Destinations within the document (anchors with the name
attribute set) are held in the Docinfo.dests list, using the
following structure:
typedef struct DestAnchor DestAnchor;
struct DestAnchor
{
DestAnchor* next;
int index;
Rune* name;
Item* item;
};
Next is the next element of the list, index is the anchor
id, name is the value of the name attribute, and item is
points to the item within the parsed document that should be
considered to be the destination.
Forms
Any forms within a document are kept in a list, headed by
Docinfo.forms. The elements of this list are as follows:
Page 10 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
typedef struct Form Form;
struct Form
{
Form* next;
int formid;
Rune* name;
Rune* action;
int target;
int method;
int nfields;
Formfield* fields;
};
Next points to the next form in the list. Formid is a
serial number for the form within the document. Name is the
value of the form's name or id attribute. Action is the
value of any action attribute. Target is the value of the
target attribute (if any) converted to a frame target id.
Method is one of HGet or HPost. Nfields is the number of
fields in the form, and fields is a linked list of the
actual fields.
The individual fields in a form are described by the follow-
ing structure:
typedef struct Formfield Formfield;
struct Formfield
{
Formfield* next;
int ftype;
int fieldid;
Form* form;
Rune* name;
Rune* value;
int size;
int maxlength;
int rows;
int cols;
uchar flags;
Option* options;
Item* image;
int ctlid;
SEvent* events;
};
Here, next points to the next field in the list. Ftype is
the type of the field, which can be one of Ftext, Fpassword,
Fcheckbox, Fradio, Fsubmit, Fhidden, Fimage, Freset, Ffile,
Fbutton, Fselect or Ftextarea. Fieldid is a serial number
for the field within the form. Form points back to the form
containing this field. Name, value, size, maxlength, rows
and cols each contain the values of corresponding attributes
Page 11 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
of the field, if present. Flags contains per-field flags,
of which FFchecked and FFmultiple are defined. Image is
only used for fields of type Fimage; it points to an image
item containing the image to be displayed. Ctlid is
reserved for use by the caller, typically to store a unique
id of an associated control used to implement the field.
Events is the same as the corresponding field of the generic
attributes associated with the item containing this field.
Options is only used by fields of type Fselect; it consists
of a list of possible options that may be selected for that
field, using the following structure:
typedef struct Option Option;
struct Option
{
Option* next;
int selected;
Rune* value;
Rune* display;
};
Next points to the next element of the list. Selected is
set if this option is to be displayed initially. Value is
the value to send when the form is submitted if this option
is selected. Display is the string to display on the screen
for this option.
Tables
The library builds a list of all the tables in the document,
headed by Docinfo.tables. Each element of this list has the
following format:
typedef struct Table Table;
struct Table
{
Table* next;
int tableid;
Tablerow* rows;
int nrow;
Tablecol* cols;
int ncol;
Tablecell* cells;
int ncell;
Tablecell*** grid;
Align align;
Dimen width;
int border;
int cellspacing;
int cellpadding;
Background background;
Item* caption;
uchar caption_place;
Page 12 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
Lay* caption_lay;
int totw;
int toth;
int caph;
int availw;
Token* tabletok;
uchar flags;
};
Next points to the next element in the list of tables.
Tableid is a serial number for the table within the docu-
ment. Rows is an array of row specifications (described
below) and nrow is the number of elements in this array.
Similarly, cols is an array of column specifications, and
ncol the size of this array. Cells is a list of all cells
within the table (structure described below) and ncell is
the number of elements in this list. Note that a cell may
span multiple rows and/or columns, thus ncell may be smaller
than nrow*ncol. Grid is a two-dimensional array of cells
within the table; the cell at row i and column j is
Table.grid[i][j]. A cell that spans multiple rows and/or
columns will be referenced by grid multiple times, however
it will only occur once in cells. Align gives the alignment
specification for the entire table, and width gives the
requested width as a dimension specification. Border,
cellspacing and cellpadding give the values of the corre-
sponding attributes for the table, and background gives the
requested background for the table. Caption is a linked
list of items to be displayed as the caption of the table,
either above or below depending on whether caption_place is
ALtop or ALbottom. Most of the remaining fields are
reserved for use by the caller, except tabletok, which is
reserved for internal use. The type Lay is not defined by
the library; the caller can provide its own definition.
The Tablecol structure is defined for use by the caller.
The library ensures that the correct number of these is
allocated, but leaves them blank. The fields are as fol-
lows:
typedef struct Tablecol Tablecol;
struct Tablecol
{
int width;
Align align;
Point pos;
};
The rows in the table are specified as follows:
typedef struct Tablerow Tablerow;
struct Tablerow
Page 13 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
{
Tablerow* next;
Tablecell* cells;
int height;
int ascent;
Align align;
Background background;
Point pos;
uchar flags;
};
Next is only used during parsing; it should be ignored by
the caller. Cells provides a list of all the cells in a
row, linked through their nextinrow fields (see below).
Height, ascent and pos are reserved for use by the caller.
Align is the alignment specification for the row, and
background is the background to use, if specified. Flags is
used by the parser; ignore this field.
The individual cells of the table are described as follows:
typedef struct Tablecell Tablecell;
struct Tablecell
{
Tablecell* next;
Tablecell* nextinrow;
int cellid;
Item* content;
Lay* lay;
int rowspan;
int colspan;
Align align;
uchar flags;
Dimen wspec;
int hspec;
Background background;
int minw;
int maxw;
int ascent;
int row;
int col;
Point pos;
};
Next is used to link together the list of all cells within a
table (Table.cells), whereas nextinrow is used to link
together all the cells within a single row (Tablerow.cells).
Cellid provides a serial number for the cell within the
table. Content is a linked list of the items to be laid out
within the cell. Lay is reserved for the user to describe
how these items have been laid out. Rowspan and colspan are
the number of rows and columns spanned by this cell,
Page 14 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
respectively. Align is the alignment specification for the
cell. Flags is some combination of TFparsing, TFnowrap and
TFisth or'd together. Here TFparsing is used internally by
the parser, and should be ignored. TFnowrap means that the
contents of the cell should not be wrapped if they don't fit
the available width, rather, the table should be expanded if
need be (this is set when the nowrap attribute is supplied).
TFisth means that the cell was created by the <th> element
(rather than the <td> element), indicating that it is a
header cell rather than a data cell. Wspec provides a sug-
gested width as a dimension specification, and hspec pro-
vides a suggested height in pixels. Background gives a
background specification for the individual cell. Minw,
maxw, ascent and pos are reserved for use by the caller dur-
ing layout. Row and col give the indices of the row and
column of the top left-hand corner of the cell within the
table grid.
Client-side Maps
The library builds a list of client-side maps, headed by
Docinfo.maps, and having the following structure:
typedef struct Map Map;
struct Map
{
Map* next;
Rune* name;
Area* areas;
};
Next points to the next element in the list, name is the
name of the map (use to bind it to an image), and areas is a
list of the areas within the image that comprise the map,
using the following structure:
typedef struct Area Area;
struct Area
{
Area* next;
int shape;
Rune* href;
int target;
Dimen* coords;
int ncoords;
};
Next points to the next element in the map's list of areas.
Shape describes the shape of the area, and is one of SHrect,
SHcircle or SHpoly. Href is the URL associated with this
area in its role as a hypertext link, and target is the tar-
get frame it should be loaded in. Coords is an array of
coordinates for the shape, and ncoords is the size of this
Page 15 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
array (number of elements).
Frames
If the Docinfo.kidinfo field is set, the document is a
frameset. In this case, it is typical for parsehtml to
return nil, as a document which is a frameset should have no
actual items that need to be laid out (such will appear only
in subsidiary documents). It is possible that items will be
returned by a malformed document; the caller should check
for this and free any such items.
The Kidinfo structure itself reflects the fact that frame-
sets can be nested within a document. If is defined as fol-
lows:
typedef struct Kidinfo Kidinfo;
struct Kidinfo
{
Kidinfo* next;
int isframeset;
// fields for "frame"
Rune* src;
Rune* name;
int marginw;
int marginh;
int framebd;
int flags;
// fields for "frameset"
Dimen* rows;
int nrows;
Dimen* cols;
int ncols;
Kidinfo* kidinfos;
Kidinfo* nextframeset;
};
Next is only used if this structure is part of a containing
frameset; it points to the next element in the list of chil-
dren of that frameset. Isframeset is set when this struc-
ture represents a frameset; if clear, it is an individual
frame.
Some fields are used only for framesets. Rows is an array
of dimension specifications for rows in the frameset, and
nrows is the length of this array. Cols is the correspond-
ing array for columns, of length ncols. Kidinfos points to
a list of components contained within this frameset, each of
which may be a frameset or a frame. Nextframeset is only
used during parsing, and should be ignored.
Page 16 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)
HTML(2) HTML(2)
The remaining fields are used if the structure describes a
frame, not a frameset. Src provides the URL for the docu-
ment that should be initially loaded into this frame. Note
that this may be a relative URL, in which case it should be
interpretted using the containing document's URL as the
base. Name gives the name of the frame, typically supplied
via a name attribute in the HTML. If no name was given, the
library allocates one. Marginw, marginh and framebd are the
values of the marginwidth, marginheight and frameborder
attributes, respectively. Flags can contain some combina-
tion of the following: FRnoresize (the frame had the nore-
size attribute set, and the user should not be allowed to
resize it), FRnoscroll (the frame should not have any scroll
bars), FRhscroll (the frame should have a horizontal scroll
bar), FRvscroll (the frame should have a vertical scroll
bar), FRhscrollauto (the frame should be automatically given
a horizontal scroll bar if its contents would not otherwise
fit), and FRvscrollauto (the frame gets a vertical scrollbar
only if required).
SOURCE
/sys/src/libhtml
SEE ALSO
fmt(1)
W3C World Wide Web Consortium, ``HTML 4.01 Specification''.
BUGS
The entire HTML document must be loaded into memory before
any of it can be parsed.
Page 17 Plan 9 (printed 11/15/25)