HTML Parser for C

Question

I am looking for an easy to use html parser library. Currently I am trying to setup libxml2 but am running into frustrating problems. The IDE I am using is Pelles C, I took the windows files for libxml2 and put them in the appropriate folders (headers in the correct header area, binaries in bin, libs in libraries etc.) but still whenever I try to compile a program the compiler just tells me that every libxml2 function I call is undefined. For example:

Linker Flags:

-subsystem:console -machine:amd64 kernel32.lib advapi32.lib delayimp64.lib Ws2_32.lib libxml2.lib

Code:

static void print_element_names(xmlNode * a_node)
{
xmlNode *cur_node = NULL;

for(cur_node = a_node; cur_node; cur_node = cur_node->next) 
{
    if (cur_node->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) 
    {
        printf("node type: Element, name: %s\n", cur_node->name);
    }
    print_element_names(cur_node->children);
}
}

int main(void)
{
xmlDoc *doc = NULL;
xmlNode *root_element = NULL;

LIBXML_TEST_VERSION
doc = xmlReadFile("XMLFILE"/*XML_FILE PUT HERE*/, NULL, 0);
if (doc != NULL) printf("error: could not parse file");
root_element = xmlDocGetRootElement(doc);
print_element_names(root_element);
xmlFreeDoc(doc);
xmlCleanupParser();

return 0;
}

just gives me the following errors when trying to compile:

POLINK: error: Unresolved external symbol 'xmlCheckVersion'.
POLINK: error: Unresolved external symbol 'xmlReadFile'.
POLINK: error: Unresolved external symbol 'xmlDocGetRootElement'.
POLINK: error: Unresolved external symbol 'xmlFreeDoc'.
POLINK: error: Unresolved external symbol 'xmlCleanupParser'.
POLINK: fatal error: 5 unresolved external(s).

this whole situation is driving me insane, if anybody could help me resolve this issue or perhaps suggest an easier to setup html parser I would immensely appreciate it.

Well if you want the honest answer, I have no idea and it seems that I made an embarrassing mistake. I am now searching for an html parser, thanks for setting me on the right track. — Keith Miller, Aug 21 '12 at 23:11
No problem. Using libxml is still a valid question, but I just wanted to alert you that it probably won't solve your problem of parsing html. Note that parsing html is *a lot* harder than parsing xml. — R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE, Aug 22 '12 at 00:27

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:51

1

Those errors are related to the linking stage: whatever library you used would give you the same issues.

Unless you did install a wrong package (e.g. 64 bits library instead of 32, or vice versa).

For XML parsing, libxml2 is quite a useful tool, it is pretty fast and quite powerful. Seeing as how you've already started with that, I'd try to solve the linker problems instead.

answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:51

LSerni

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the linking stage meaning what? I'm somewhat confused as to what could be causing this issue then, I'm on a 64bit machine, running the 64bit Pelles C ide? So if it's a linking stage how could I resolve that? I feel completely in the dark at this point. – Keith Miller Aug 21 '12 at 22:54
The Pelles IDE will first convert the C source into object code, and apparently does this without errors. Then it will try to resolve the references by looking into available libraries -- and there's where it's failing. With GCC I sometimes have to specify libraries in a different order; try that, maybe it's the same with Pelles. Otherwise, I'd check if the binary lib file is correct for the architecture (BTW, shouldn't it be a DLL?). Sorry, I don't know what else to try. But rest assured it's no fault of libxml2 :-) – LSerni Aug 21 '12 at 22:58
I know for a fact that it's something I'm doing wrong but I just don't know either :P – Keith Miller Aug 21 '12 at 23:00
The symbol names appear to be correct and match the library (ftp://ftp.zlatkovic.com/libxml/libxml2-2.7.8.win32.zip). Try to change the linker flags and move libxml2 before the other libraries. You copied in /lib all the files in the /lib dir of the zip, did you? – LSerni Aug 22 '12 at 10:07
Yes I did, and I tried moving the flags around as well, I tried libxml2.lib and libxml2_a.lib neither work unfortunatly, I have a backup of all my bins, includes, and libs that came with Pelles C and a backup of the default files plus the ones I added from libxml2. – Keith Miller Aug 22 '12 at 13:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:52

0

I once used Mini-XML. It compiles with ANSI C compilers. http://www.minixml.org/

However you should be careful because parsing HTML is not the same as parsing XML. For instance, in HTML you can have tags without closing them. Eg:

<img src="foo.jpg">

answered Aug 21 '12 at 22:52

Claudi

5,224
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in that case I am looking for html is there an html parser library for windows? – Keith Miller Aug 21 '12 at 22:59

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 21 '12 at 23:33

0

I tried a tool called html2cxx could parse html. It can parse html and css1.0 well though has not been updated for some years.

answered Aug 21 '12 at 23:33

maoyang

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If you want the parser robust, I think you should look into webkit's source code. – maoyang Aug 22 '12 at 01:09

HTML Parser for C

3 Answers3