NSXMLParser - modify the elements in iPhone

Question

I have an HTML string that I need to modify its elements.

I looked into NSXMLParser, but didn't see any method to modify the elements while reading them.

I don't like the solution of creating a NSMutableString and adding strings to it.

Is there a way to read HTML string and modify its element in an elegant way?

e.g.,

<div style="color:grey"></div>

will be

<div style="color:black"></div>

Unfortunately I saw that one cannot use NSXMLDocument in an iPhone app.

Courtly

Answer 1

see the github project KissXML which is a 'clone of NSXML library and works the same. https://github.com/robbiehanson/KissXML

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shameless self-advert: my fork of it works way better with html that's not real xml https://github.com/Daij-Djan/KissXML

Bronwen

it is implemented ontop of libxml2 like NSXMLParser but it allocates a lot more objects and obviously the memory usage is MUCH higher because the whole tree is loaded... but for 'normal ebpages' thats not a problem on today's device :) and it IS convenient :D – Bronwen

If I would only parse the HTML and concat it to String would it consume less memory? – Courtly

if you parse it with NSXMLParser and just concat to a NSMutableString buffer, it would use less memory but I would not go there right away because it will be much more work and might not be necessary. KissXML might be performant enough for the task. (likely IMO) – Bronwen

Well - after spending a day or more with it - how do I parse the elements recursively? I may have more than one levels of div with font-size! – Courtly

a SAX parser is by default not recursive... I used to built my own data model around it and change the delegate depending on where I am: – Bronwen

e.g. on <bookstore> start, create a bookstore object and make it delegate, on <book> start make a book and name it delegate. ob book end go back to the bookstore as the delegate, on bookstore end go back to original delegate – Bronwen

Your fork doesn't work well with HTML. For instance, If the tags are not closed, like <img> it wouldn't parse. See my question here #14111654 and the comments about chatting with you about it. What do you suggest? – Courtly

I said .. better :D of course there are no guarantees. make sure you pass options:NSXMLDocumentTidyHTML – Bronwen