`html`

This library provides predicates for generating HTML content using either HTML 5 or XHTML 1.1 formats from a term representation. The library performs minimal validation, checking only that all elements are valid. No attempt is made to generate nicely indented output.

Normal elements are represented using a compound term with one argument (the element content) or two arguments (the element attributes represented by a list of Key=Value or Key-Value pairs and the element content). The element content can be another element or a list of elements. For example:

ol([type-a], [li(foo), li(bar), li(baz)])

The two exceptions are the pre or code elements whose content is never interpreted as an element or a list of elements. For example, the fragment:

pre([foo,bar,baz])

is translated to:

<pre>
[foo,bar,baz]
</pre>

Void elements are represented using a compound term with one argument, the (possibly empty) list of attributes represented by a list of Key=Value or Key-Value pairs. For example:

hr([class-separator])

Atomic arguments of the compound terms are interpreted as element content. Non atomic element content can be represented as a quoted atom or by using the pre or code elements as explained above.

This library is a work in progress.

API documentation

Open the ../../docs/library_index.html#html link in a web browser.

Loading

To load all entities in this library, load the loader.lgt file:

| ?- logtalk_load(html(loader)).

Testing

To test this library predicates, load the tester.lgt file:

| ?- logtalk_load(html(tester)).

Generating a HTML document

HTML documents can be generated from a compound term representation and written to a file or a stream. For example, assuming we want to generate a HTML 5 file:

| ?- html5::generate(
         file('hello.html'),
         html([lang=en], [head(title('Hello world!')), body(p('Bye!'))])
     ).

When the second argument is a html/1 or html/2 compound term, a doctype is automatically written. If we prefer instead e.g. a XHTML 1.1 document, we use the xhtml11 object:

| ?- xhtml11::generate(
         file('hello.html'),
         html([lang=en], [head(title('Hello world!')), body(p('Bye!'))])
     ).

Generating a HTML fragment

It’s also possible to generate just a fragment of a (X)HTML document by using a list of compound terms or a compound term for an element other then html. For example:

| ?- current_output(Stream),
     html5::generate(stream(Stream), ul([li(foo), li(bar), li(baz)])).

<ul>
<li>
foo</li>
<li>
bar</li>
<li>
baz</li>
</ul>

Stream = ...

Working with callbacks to generate content

Often we need to programmatically generate HTML content from queries. In other cases, we may have fixed content that we don’t want to keep repeating (e.g. a navigation bar). The library supports a (::)/2 pseudo-element that sends a message to an object to retrieve content. As an example, assume the following predicate definition in user:

content(strong('Hello world!')).

This predicate can then be called from the HTML term representation. For example:

| ?- current_output(Stream),
     html5::generate(stream(Stream), span(user::content)).

<span><strong>Hello world!</strong></span>

Stream = ...

Note that the callback always takes the form Object::Closure where Closure is extended with a single argument (to be bound to the generated content). More complex callbacks are possible by using lambda expressions.

Working with custom elements

The html5 and xhtml11 objects recognize the same set of standard HTML 5 normal and void elements and generate an error for non-standard elements. If you need to generate HTML content containing custom elements, define a new object that extends one of the library objects. For example:

:- object(html5custom,
    extends(html5)).

    normal_element(foo, inline).
    normal_element(bar, block).
    normal_element(Name, Display) :-
        ^^normal_element(Name, Display).

:- end_object.

html