DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / flexml / flexml.1.en
FLEXML(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation FLEXML(1)

flexml - generate validating XML processor and applications from DTD

flexml [-ASHDvdnLXV] [-sskel] [-ppubid] [-iinit_header] [-uuri] [-rrootags] [-aactions] name[.dtd]

Flexml reads name.dtd which must be a DTD (Document Type Definition) describing the format of XML (Extensible Markup Language) documents, and produces a "validating" XML processor with an interface to support XML applications. Proper applications can be generated optionally from special "action files", either for linking or textual combination with the processor.

The generated processor will only validate documents that conform strictly to the DTD, without extending it, more precisely we in practice restrict XML rule [28] to

  [28r] doctypedecl ::= '<!DOCTYPE' S Name S ExternalID S? '>'

where the "ExternalId" denotes the used DTD. (One might say, in fact, that flexml implements "non-extensible" markup. :)

The generated processor is a flex(1) scanner, by default named name.l with a corresponding C header file name.h for separate compilation of generated applications. Optionally flexml takes an actions file with per-element actions and produces a C file with element functions for an XML application with entry points called from the XML processor (it can also fold the XML application into the XML processor to make stand-alone XML applications but this prevents sharing of the processor between applications).

In "OPTIONS" we list the possible options, in "ACTION FILE FORMAT" we explain how to write applications, in "COMPILATION" we explain how to compile produced processors and applications into executables, and in "BUGS" we list the current limitations of the system before giving standard references.

Flexml takes the following options.

Generate a stand-alone scanner application. If combined with -aactions then the application will be named as actions with the extension replaced by .l, otherwise it will be in name.l. Conflicts with -S, -H, and -D.
Uses the actions file to produce an XML application in the file with the same name as actions after replacing the extension with .c. If combined with -A then instead the stand-alone application will include the action functions.
Generate a dummy application with just empty functions to be called by the XML processor. If app_name is not specified on the command line, it defaults to name-dummy.c. If combined with -a actions then the application will insert the specified actions and be named as actions with the extension replaced by .c. Conflicts with -A; implied by -a unless either of -SHD is specified.
Turns on debug mode in the flex scanner and also prints out the details of the DTD analysis performed by flexml.
Generate the header file. If the header_name is not specified on the command line, defaults to name.h. Conflicts with -A; on by default if none of -SHD specified.
Makes the XML processor (as produced by flex(1)) count the lines in the input and keep it available to XML application actions in the integer "yylineno". (This is off by default as the performance overhead is significant.)
Prevents the XML processor (as produced by flex(1)) from reporting the error it runs into on stderr. Instead, users will have to pool for error messages with the parse_err_msg() function. By default, error messages are written on stderr.
"Dry-run": do not produce any of the output files.
Sets the document type to be "PUBLIC" with the identifier pubid instead of "SYSTEM", the default.
Puts a line containing "#include "init_header"" in the "%{...%}" section at the top of the generated .l file. This may be useful for making various flex "#define"s, for example "YY_INPUT" or "YY_DECL".
Overrides the "SYSTEM" id of the accepted DTD. Sometimes useful when your dtd is placed in a subdirectory.
Restricts the XML processor to validate only documents with one of the root elements listed in the comma-separated roottags.
Generate the scanner. If scanner_name is not given on command line, it defaults to name.l. Conflicts with -A; on by default if none of -SHD specified.
Use the skeleton scanner skel instead of the default.
This is an internal option mainly used to test versions of flexml not installed yet.
Sets the FLEXML_BUFFERSTACKSIZE to stack_increment (100000 by default). This controls how much the data stack grows in each realloc().
Use STRING to differentiate multiple versions of flexml in the same C code, just like the -P flex argument.
Sets the URI of the DTD, used in the "DOCTYPE" header, to the specified uri (the default is the DTD name).
Be verbose: echo each DTD declaration (after parameter expansion).
Print the version of flexml and exit.

Action files, passed to the -a option, are XML documents conforming to the DTD flexml-act.dtd which is the following:

  <!ELEMENT actions ((top|start|end)*,main?)>
  <!ENTITY % C-code "(#PCDATA)">
  <!ELEMENT top   %C-code;>
  <!ELEMENT start %C-code;>  <!ATTLIST start tag NMTOKEN #REQUIRED>
  <!ELEMENT end   %C-code;>  <!ATTLIST end   tag NMTOKEN #REQUIRED>
  <!ELEMENT main  %C-code;>

The elements should be used as follows:

"top"
Use for top-level C code such as global declarations, utility functions, etc.
"start"
Attaches the code as an action to the element with the name of the required ""tag"" attribute. The ""%C-code;"" component should be C code suitable for inclusion in a C block (i.e., within "{"..."}" so it may contain local variables); furthermore the following extensions are available:

"{"attribute"}": Can be used to access the value of the attribute as set with attribute"="value in the start tag. In C, "{"attribute"}" will be interpreted depending on the declaration of the attribute. If the attribute is declared as an enumerated type like

  <!ATTLIST attrib (alt1 | alt2 |...) ...>

then the C attribute value is of an enumerated type with the elements written "{"attribute"="alt1"}", "{"attribute"="alt2"}", etc.; furthermore an unset attribute has the "value" "{!"attribute"}". If the attribute is not an enumeration then "{"attribute"}" is a null-terminated C string (of type "char*") and "{!"attribute"}" is "NULL".

"end"
Similarly attaches the code as an action to the end tag with the name of the required ""tag"" attribute; also here the ""%C-code;"" component should be C code suitable for inclusion in a C block. In case the element has "Mixed" contents, i.e, was declared to permit "#PCDATA", then the following variable is available:

"{#PCDATA}": Contains the text ("#PCDATA") of the element as a null-terminated C string (of type "char*"). In case the Mixed contents element actually mixed text and child elements then "pcdata" contains the plain concatenation of the text fragments as one string.

"main"
Finally, an optional ""main"" element can contain the C "main" function of the XML application. Normally the "main" function should include (at least) one call of the XML processor:

"yylex()": Invokes the XML processor produced by flex(1) on the XML document found on the standard input (actually the "yyin" file handle: see the manual for flex(1) for information on how to change this as well as the name "yylex").

If no "main" action is provided then the following is used:

  int main() { exit(yylex()); }

It is advisable to use XML <"![CDATA[" ... "]]"> sections for the C code to make sure that all characters are properly passed to the output file.

Finally note that Flexml handles empty elements <tag"/"> as equivalent to <tag><"/"tag>.

The following make(1) file fragment shows how one can compile flexml-generated programs:

  # Programs.
  FLEXML = flexml -v
  # Generate linkable XML processor with header for application.
  %.l %.h: %.dtd
          $(FLEXML) $<
  # Generate C source from flex scanner.
  %.c:    %.l
          $(FLEX) -Bs -o"$@" "$<"
  # Generate XML application C source to link with processor.
  # Note: The dependency must be of the form "appl.c: appl.act proc.dtd".
  %.c:    %.act
          $(FLEXML) -D -a $^
  # Direct generation of stand-alone XML processor+application.
  # Note: The dependency must be of the form "appl.l: appl.act proc.dtd".
  %.l:    %.act
          $(FLEXML) -A -a $^

The present version of flexml is to be considered in "early beta" state thus bugs should be expected (and the author would like to hear about them). Here are some known restrictions that we hope to overcome in the future:

  • The character set is merely ASCII (actually flex(1) handles 8 bit characters but only the ASCII character set is common with the XML default UTF-8 encoding).
  • "ID" type attributes are not validated for uniqueness; "IDREF" and "IDREFS" attributes are not validated for existence.
  • The "ENTITY" and "ENTITIES" attribute types are not supported.
  • "NOTATION" declarations are not supported.
  • The various "xml:"-attributes are treated like any other attributes; in particular "xml:spaces" should be supported.
  • The DTD parser is presently a perl hack so it may parse some DTDs badly; in particular the expansion of parameter entities may not conform fully to the XML specification.
  • A child should be able to "return" a value for the parent (also called a synthesised attribute). Similarly an element in Mixed contents should be able to inject text into the "pcdata" of the parent.

/usr/share/flexml/skel
The skeleton scanner with the generic parts of XML scanning.
/usr/share/doc/flexml/flexml/
License, further documentation, and examples.

flex(1), Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (W3C Recommendation REC-xml-1998-0210).

Flexml was written by Kristoffer Rose, <"krisrose@debian.org">.

The program is Copyright (c) 1999 Kristoffer Rose (all rights reserved) and distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL, also known as "copyleft", which clarifies that the author provides absolutely no warranty for flexml and ensures that flexml is and will remain available for all uses, even comercial).

I am grateful to NTSys (France) for supporting the development of flexml. Finally extend my severe thanks to Jef Poskanzer, Vern Paxson, and the rest of the flex maintainers and GNU developers for a great tool.

2016-06-01 perl v5.24.1