Off-line HTML Validator – A clipbook for NoteTab
1. Description
The Off-line Validator clipbook gives NoteTab users a convenient and easy-to-use interface to James Clark's SGML Parser, which is widely recognized for its great performance and reliability. This allows very efficient off-line validation of edited web pages (without the Internet connection), and the level of rigor is practically the same as that of W3C HTML Validator. Note that this is real validation, since the syntax of the document is checked against the SGML definition of the corresponding mark-up language.
This clipbook consists of three groups of macros:
- five macros for performing validation of the current NoteTab document against XHTML 1.1, XHTML 1.0, HTML 4.01, HTML 3.2 and HTML 2.0 and older,
- three navigation macros for moving between erros in the edited document (first error; next error; previous error),
- two auxiliary macros for inserting suitable
DOCTYPEandcharsetdeclarations.
Besides this, a corresponding clipbar with a set of toolbar icons is provided for use in NoteTab Pro and NoteTab Standard.
2. Download and install
- Download the self-extracting archive offline-validator.exe (826 kB). It contains the clipbook, the SGML Parser binaries for Windows 32 and its original documentation, and necessary declarations for most popular versions of HTML.
- Run it and extract the archive to the NoteTab program directory (typically something like
"C:\Program Files\NoteTab Pro"or"C:\Program Files\NoteTab Light")
The clipbook, the clipbar, and clipbar icons will be added to the NoteTab "Libraries" subdirectory, and the subdirectory called "sp" will be created. The "sp" subdirectory contains James Clark's SGML parser binaries for 32-bit Windows, parser's documentation, and document type definitions.
In may happen that you will need to enlarge the memory allocated for environment variables. For example, in Windows 95/98 you may need to add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM /e:4096 /p
Another possible method is to locate the file called "validate.bat" in the "sp" subdirectory,
right-click on it and select "Properties" in the context menu. Then click on "Memory" tab, and enlarge the memory
for environment variables there.
3. Usage
To use the clipbook, select "Validate" in the clipbook list. In NoteTab Pro/Std you can also enable the clipbar (menu View-Clipbar-Validate).
Open a document which you like to validate. To perform validation, for example, against XHTML 1.0, run "XHTML 1.0" macro either from the clipbook window or from the the clipbar.
If there are errors, they will be shown in a separate document window.
To jump to the position where the first error in the document was detected, run "First ERROR" macro. You will be taken there, and the description of this particular error will be shown in a message box. If appropriate, the corresponding tag will be highlighted. (Note: the line number in the message box is actually the paragraph number; if line wrap is off, the line number is equal to the paragraph number.)
To browse through the errors, you can use "Next ERROR" and "Previous ERROR". However, it can be recommended to correct the first detected error, and then run validation again – many of other errors may dissappear after fixing the first error.
NOTE: Currently, this Off-line Validator validates the disc files, and not on what you see (unsaved yet) on the screen. Don't forget to save the edited file before running the Validator again (I thank Frank Abbing who suggested to include this statement in this on-line manual).
If there are no errors, the corresponding message will appear.
4. HTML Tidy versus Validators
One should realize that brilliant, intelligent, and highly recommended for daily use HTML Tidy utility is NOT a validator.
To realize this, it is sufficient to mention that it does not work with DTDs. Due to this, it often oversights improper parameters in tags, etc.
On the other hand, HTML Tidy can fix properly most of errors in mark-up code (wrong nesting of tags, missing ends of tags, etc.), re-format the code nicely with indents of nested tags, transform HTML to XHTML, clean terrific MS Word 97/2000 HTML output, and do many other things, which any validator will not do for you.
Not every file which passed through Tidy will pass through a validator. However, after Tidy there will be less errors to handle manually.
Speaking shortly, use both Tidy and some Validator. Using NoteTab is ideal because of its built-in support for Tidy, existing Grant MacKenzie's HtmlTidy NoteTab clipbook for fine-tuning Tidy, and the existence of this Off-Line Validator clipbook for NoteTab.
5. Legal matters
- This clipbook is a freeware product, so it is not supported, and you use it at your own risk.
- This clipbook is provides "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
- You are free to edit the clipbook for your personal purposes. However, you must change the clipbook name and and describe changes in the documentation if you make a revised library available to other users.
- By installing this clipbook, you (the user) take full responsibility for what it may do to your computer including its software. Should this clipbook prove defective, you assume the risk and liability for the entire cost of all necessary repair, service, or correction.
6. Author
Off-line Validator clipbook © Igor Podlubny 2005-2007
Igor Podlubny,Department of Applied Informatics and Process Control
Faculty of BERG, Technical University of Kosice
B.Nemcovej 3, 04200 Kosice, Slovak Republic
e-mail: Igor.Podlubny@tuke.sk
Your bug reports, comments and suggestions are welcome, although I cannot even promise that you will get an immediate reply.