xmerl_scan

This module is the interface to the XML parser, it handles XML 1.0. The XML parser is activated through xmerl_scan:string/[1,2] or xmerl_scan:file/[1,2]. It returns records of the type defined in xmerl.hrl. See also tutorial on customization functions.

document() = xmlElement() | xmlDocument()

The document returned by xmerl_scan:string/[1,2] and xmerl_scan:file/[1,2]. The type of the returned record depends on the value of the document option passed to the function.

global_state()

The global state of the scanner, represented by the #xmerl_scanner{} record.

option_list()

Options allow to customize the behaviour of the scanner. See also tutorial on customization functions.

Possible options are:

{acc_fun, Fun}

Call back function to accumulate contents of entity.

{continuation_fun, Fun} | {continuation_fun, Fun, ContinuationState}

Call back function to decide what to do if the scanner runs into EOF before the document is complete.

{event_fun, Fun} | {event_fun, Fun, EventState}

Call back function to handle scanner events.

{fetch_fun, Fun} | {fetch_fun, Fun, FetchState}

Call back function to fetch an external resource.

{hook_fun, Fun} | {hook_fun, Fun, HookState}

Call back function to process the document entities once identified.

{close_fun, Fun}

Called when document has been completely parsed.

{rules, ReadFun, WriteFun, RulesState} | {rules, Rules}

Handles storing of scanner information when parsing.

{user_state, UserState}

Global state variable accessible from all customization functions

{fetch_path, PathList}

PathList is a list of directories to search when fetching files. If the file in question is not in the fetch_path, the URI will be used as a file name.

{space, Flag}

'preserve' (default) to preserve spaces, 'normalize' to accumulate consecutive whitespace and replace it with one space.

{line, Line}

To specify starting line for scanning in document which contains fragments of XML.

{namespace_conformant, Flag}

Controls whether to behave as a namespace conformant XML parser, 'false' (default) to not otherwise 'true'.

{validation, Flag}

Controls whether to process as a validating XML parser: 'off' (default) no validation, or validation 'dtd' by DTD or 'schema' by XML Schema. 'false' and 'true' options are obsolete (i.e. they may be removed in a future release), if used 'false' equals 'off' and 'true' equals 'dtd'.

{schemaLocation, [{Namespace,Link}|...]}

Tells explicitly which XML Schema documents to use to validate the XML document. Used together with the {validation,schema} option.

{quiet, Flag}

Set to 'true' if xmerl should behave quietly and not output any information to standard output (default 'false').

{doctype_DTD, DTD}

Allows to specify DTD name when it isn't available in the XML document. This option has effect only together with {validation,'dtd' option.

{xmlbase, Dir}

XML Base directory. If using string/1 default is current directory. If using file/1 default is directory of given file.

{encoding, Enc}

Set default character set used (default UTF-8). This character set is used only if not explicitly given by the XML declaration.

{document, Flag}

Set to 'true' if xmerl should return a complete XML document as an xmlDocument record (default 'false').

{comments, Flag}

Set to 'false' if xmerl should skip comments otherwise they will be returned as xmlComment records (default 'true').

{default_attrs, Flag}

Set to 'true' if xmerl should add to elements missing attributes with a defined default value (default 'false').

xmlDocument() = #xmlDocument{}

The record definition is found in xmerl.hrl.

xmlElement() = #xmlElement{}

The record definition is found in xmerl.hrl.

Function to accumulate and normalize whitespace.

Equivalent to cont_state(ContinuationState, S).

For controlling the ContinuationState, to be used in a continuation function, and called when the parser encounters the end of the byte stream. See tutorial on customization functions.

Equivalent to event_state(EventState, S).

For controlling the EventState, to be used in an event function, and called at the beginning and at the end of a parsed entity. See tutorial on customization functions.

Equivalent to fetch_state(FetchState, S).

For controlling the FetchState, to be used in a fetch function, and called when the parser fetch an external resource (eg. a DTD). See tutorial on customization functions.

Types:

Equivalent to file(Filename, []).

Types:

Parse file containing an XML document

Equivalent to hook_state(HookState, S).

For controlling the HookState, to be used in a hook function, and called when the parser has parsed a complete entity. See tutorial on customization functions.

Equivalent to rules_state(RulesState, S).

For controlling the RulesState, to be used in a rules function, and called when the parser store scanner information in a rules database. See tutorial on customization functions.

Types:

Equivalent to string(Test, []).

Types:

Parse string containing an XML document

Equivalent to user_state(UserState, S).

For controlling the UserState, to be used in a user function. See tutorial on customization functions.