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How can I prevent XML::XPath from fetching a DTD while processing an XML file?

Answer 1

A:

Usually it's done by setting up local XML catalog.

libxml-based parsers support it, so if you follow mirod's advice, you'll be able to get named entities and validation work without network access.

porneL 2008-11-19 22:22:54

True. You could probably use XML::Catalog to add a catalog to an XML::Parser object, and use that parser in XML::XPath's new. I have never tested that though.

mirod 2008-11-20 13:17:43

Answer 2

+8 A:

XML::XPath is based on XML::Parser. There is an option in XML::Parser to NOT use LWP to resolve external entities (such as DTDs). And XML::XPath lets you pass an XML::Parser objetc, to use as the parser.

So you can write this:

my $p = XML::Parser->new( NoLWP => 1);
my $xp= XML::XPath->new( parser => $p, filename => "a.xhtml");

Note that in this case you will loose all entities except numerical ones and the default ones (>, <, &, ' and "). The parser will not complain, but they will disappear silently (try including α in the table and printing it for example).

As a matter of fact you probably should not use XML::XPath, which is not actively maintained.

Try XML::LibXML, if you have no problem with installing libxml2, its interface is very similar to XML::XPath as they both implement the DOM. XML::LibXML is also much more powerful than XML::XPath, and faster to boot. If you want an expat/XML::Parser based module, they you might want to have a look at XML::Twig (that's blatant self-promotion as I am the author of the module, sorry). Also for HTML/dodgy XHTML, you can use HTML::TreeBuilder, which, with the addition of HTML::TreeBuilder::XPath (also by me), supports XPath.

mirod 2008-11-20 10:08:59

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How can I prevent XML::XPath from fetching a DTD while processing an XML file?

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