HTTXPlugin

HTML to text conversion plugin for AWeb
by Gabriele Favrin


The author is in no way responsible for any damages these programs may cause.
Redistribution or modification is forbidden. If you improve these scripts send me the new versions in E-Mail.



Index:

Introduction

With the HTTXPlugin you can use HTTX from within AWeb to save or print HTML pages as text.

This version of the plugin requires at least AWeb II 3.3 (normal or SE version), HTTX 2.0c or newer and AWNPipe 2.49 or newer by William Parker. Also, the command "Delete" must be present in your C: directory.

Installation

Installer should already have installed all files in the proper directories and configured AWeb , but if you prefer to install HTTX manually you must proceed as described:
  1. Copy to the "AWeb/Plugins/HTTX" directory the following files:



  2. Configure AWeb. HTTX may be called from AWeb in several ways. You may want to use more than one method. Possibly user buttons AND frame popup menu for save and print as well with HTTX save as text, print and configuration as menu entries. You can also define "keys" for start the programs.

    Il you are using AWeb 3.3SE or AWeb 3.4SE you can't define menus or keys. You must use the HTTX Control Panel and "link" it to a user button.

    The Control Panel is also useful to normal AWeb users as it can be left on screen and it tracks the active AWeb window. It speeds up the saving, or printing of multiple pages.

    If HTTX configuration GUI or HTTX Control Panel are started while another copy of them is running, the second one will simply move the first copy in front of all other windows and quit.

    How to properly set up HTTX in AWeb:

    Menu, buttons, keys:

    You can add three entries, one for Save as text (HTTXPlugin.awebrx), one for Print as text (HTTXPluginPRT.awebrx) and one for the HTTX and plugin configuration (HTTXPluginCFG.awebrx).

    Or you can add a single entry for HTTX Control Panel (HTTXPluginCP.awebrx).

    Popup menu (frame)

    Add the entries "Save As Text" and "Print As Text" (if required) using the following commands.

    Save:
    RUN AWebPath:Plugins/HTTX/HTTXPlugin.awebrx TARGET %i

    Print:
    RUN AWebPath:Plugins/HTTX/HTTXPluginPRT.awebrx TARGET %i

    Now it will be possible to save or print a single frame directly from the popup menu (without using the plugin "Select frames" function).

Configuration

Start HTTXPluginCFG.awebrx with AWeb to configure HTTX. A Reaction GUI will be displayed.

File save settings and print settings

Line length
Maximum length for each line.

Indentation
Indentation of <UL>, <OL> or <DL> lists.

ANSI mode
Conversion of HTML styles and LINKS (HREF and NAME) to ANSI sequences: Modes are the following:



ANSI color
Color used to render links in ANSI conversion.

HR draw mode
Line drawing for <HR> tag. Modes are the following:



Printer device
Device used for print both by HTTX and the plugin. Usually is "prt:" but in some cases (eg. with some cards) a different device may be used.

Filenote type
Filenote (comment) of the saved file:



Convert entities to 7bit ASCII
Conversion of HTML entities (accent letters, and so) to ASCII codes lower than 128.

Ignore text and HR alignment
Don't center or right justify text and lines.

Use EOL as table cell separator
Use an end of line to separate table cells.

Suppress Title/URL
Suppresses insertion of document Title (<TITLE>) and URL in output file.

Include HTML Link References
Add HTML link references to the converted file.

Include Image Alternate Texts
Add the ALT-text of images (<IMG>) to the output file.

Include JavaScript scripts
Add the text (NOT result!) of JavaScript (or other scripts) to converted file.

Support badly written HTML
Partial support for badly written HTML documents. Use with caution!

The standard HTTX settings will be saved in the environment variables HTTX.prefs (for Save as text) and HTTXprt.prefs (for Print as text).

Other options (like FORCE or INCLUDE) are managed directly from the Plugin.
Refer to HTTX documentation for a full explanation of options.

AWeb plugin settings

Default save directory
Default directory to save the converted files in.

Don't ask for save directory
Don't open the save requester and save directly to the default save directory.

Include HTTP/META header
Add the HTTP header information and the <META> tags present in the HTML source to the converted file.

Example of the added text:

Header:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Server: Netscape-Enterprise/2.01
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 1997 06:38:12 GMT
Accept-ranges: bytes
Last-modified: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 13:57:46 GMT
Content-length: 7085
Content-type: text/html
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Show preview of converted document
After a document is converted it will be shown using MultiView (must be in "SYS:Utilities/" drawer). After closing MultiView a requester will ask if the document should be kept or deleted. Select Delete and the file will be removed and no conversion informations will be shown.

Note that MultiView doesn't support VT100 cursor control sequences used (in indentation, for example) when "optimized" ANSI mode is enabled. See HTTX documentation for more informations.

This option is only used when saving as text.

Show conversion report
After converting a document, an info page containing the current HTTX settings is normally shown. With this option you can disable this behavior and get a warning only in errors occur.

The HTTX-AWeb settings are saved in the environment variable HTTXPlugin.config.


Saving preferences for HTTX works like the standard WB preference programs. Use the "Save" or "Use" option to store data. With "Save" the settings are stored in ENVARC: and the changes are permanent. With "Use" they are saved only in ENV: so changes are lost when you reboot. The first time you configure HTTX you MUST use the "Save" option.

Usage

To save or print a page use the previously set menu or popup entries.

If page contains frames a requester will open. You may choose to save all frames to a single file or use a requester to save or skip each frame.

If preview is active when saving, after conversion of any document, the converted document will be shown and then the keep or delete requester will be shown.

ARexx host

Thanks to the power of AWNPipe: both HTTX configuration GUI and HTTX Control Panel have an ARexx interface.

The ARexx host is called AWEBHTTXCFG for the configuration GUI and AWEBHTTXCP for Control Panel. Available commands are:

front
Move the GUI in front of all other windows.

quit
Tells the program to close its GUI and quit.

If you have written a program that forces AWeb to open a new window, you can bring HTTX configuration GUI and/or HTTX Control Panel back to the front automatically. Here is a short example.

'NEW "file://localhost/'filename'"'
if Show('P','AWEBHTTXCFG') then address AWEBHTTXCFG 'front'
if Show('P','AWEBHTTXCP') then address AWEBHTTXCP 'front'

ARexx host can be useful also for the AWeb shutdown script. By adding these limes (if not already present or if you change the default script) HTTX related interfaces will be automatically closed while quitting from AWeb:

if Show('P','AWEBHTTXCFG') then address AWEBHTTXCFG 'quit'
if Show('P','AWEBHTTXCP') then address AWEBHTTXCP 'quit'

History

V3.1



V3.0



V2.1a