SAX::ParserFactory(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation SAX::ParserFactory(3)
NAME
XML::SAX::ParserFactory - Obtain a SAX parser
SYNOPSIS
use XML::SAX::ParserFactory;
use XML::SAX::XYZHandler;
my $handler = XML::SAX::XYZHandler->new();
my $p = XML::SAX::ParserFactory->parser(Handler => $handler);
$p->parse_uri("foo.xml");
# or $p->parse_string("<foo/>") or $p->parse_file($fh);
DESCRIPTION
XML::SAX::ParserFactory is a factory class for providing an application with a Perl SAX2 XML parser.
It is akin to DBI - a front end for other parser classes. Each new SAX2 parser installed will
register itself with XML::SAX, and then it will become available to all applications that use
XML::SAX::ParserFactory to obtain a SAX parser.
Unlike DBI however, XML/SAX parsers almost all work alike (especially if they subclass
XML::SAX::Base, as they should), so rather than specifying the parser you want in the call to
"parser()", XML::SAX has several ways to automatically choose which parser to use:
$XML::SAX::ParserPackage
If this package variable is set, then this package is "require()"d and an instance of this
package is returned by calling the "new()" class method in that package. If it cannot be loaded
or there is an error, an exception will be thrown. The variable can also contain a version
number:
$XML::SAX::ParserPackage = "XML::SAX::Expat (0.72)";
And the number will be treated as a minimum version number.
Required features
It is possible to require features from the parsers. For example, you may wish for a parser that
supports validation via a DTD. To do that, use the following code:
use XML::SAX::ParserFactory;
my $factory = XML::SAX::ParserFactory->new();
$factory->require_feature('http://xml.org/sax/features/validation');
my $parser = $factory->parser(...);
Alternatively, specify the required features in the call to the ParserFactory constructor:
my $factory = XML::SAX::ParserFactory->new(
RequiredFeatures => {
'http://xml.org/sax/features/validation' => 1,
}
);
If the features you have asked for are unavailable (for example the user might not have a
validating parser installed), then an exception will be thrown.
The list of known parsers is searched in reverse order, so it will always return the last
installed parser that supports all of your requested features (Note: this is subject to change if
someone comes up with a better way of making this work).
SAX.ini
ParserFactory will search @INC for a file called SAX.ini, which is in a simple format:
# a comment looks like this,
; or like this, and are stripped anywhere in the file
key = value # SAX.in contains key/value pairs.
All whitespace is non-significant.
This file can contain either a line:
ParserPackage = MyParserModule (1.02)
Where MyParserModule is the module to load and use for the parser, and the number in brackets is
a minimum version to load.
Or you can list required features:
http://xml.org/sax/features/validation = 1
And each feature with a true value will be required.
Fallback
If none of the above works, the last parser installed on the user's system will be used. The
XML::SAX package ships with a pure perl XML parser, XML::SAX::PurePerl, so that there will always
be a fallback parser.
AUTHOR
Matt Sergeant, matt@sergeant.org
LICENSE
This is free software, you may use it and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.8.8 2002-11-19 SAX::ParserFactory(3)
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