How to split HTML content?
Well, the text like:
Ruby on Rails is a next-generation
web-framework
YEAH!And of course Java killer?! :) ©
You can split to a pages in a smart way.
I tried to realize it in a gem for my internal use, and now when it
works for my Rails 3.1.3 application, this is enough to make it public.
I hope it can be helpful.
Look more at https://github.com/addagger/HtmlSlicer
Feedback awaiting 
Thank you.
HtmlSlicer
A little gem for Rails 3 helps you to implement smart way to split
textual content, the quick approach to create pageable views for
ActiveRecord Models attributes or just independent strings or any other
Ruby classes. Or course it can split HTML content. More over, it can
resize HTML tags having width= attribute*.
- Imagine you want to resize
gem ‘html_slicer’
Then bundle:
% bundle
Implementation
Basic appoach
slice <method_name>, , [:config => <:style>]*
where:
<method_name> - any method or local variable which returns source String
(can be called with .send()).
- Hash of configuration options and/or :config
parameter.
Basic example
class Article < ActiveRecord::Base
slice :content, :as => :paged, :slice => {:maximum => 20}, :resize =>
{:width => 300}
end
where:
:content is an attribute accessor for Article which return a target
String object.
:as is a name of basic accessor for result.
:slice is a hash of +slicing options+ as a part of configuration.
:resize is a hash of +resizing options+ as a part of configuration.
You can define any key of configuration you want. Otherwise, default
configuration options (if available) will be picked up automatically.
Console:
@article = Article.find(1)
@article.content
=> "Words like violence break the silence\r\nCome crashing in into my
little world\r\n<iframe width="560" height="315"
src="YouTube" frameborder="0"
allowfullscreen>\r\nPainful to me, pierce right through
me\r\nCan’t you understand, oh my little girl?"
@article_paged = @article.paged
=> “Words like violence bre”
the nil argument assumes it is number 1.
@article_paged.slice!(2) # => ak the silence
the passed slice number is remembered.
@article_paged.slice!(4) # => rld
Configuration options
All configuration keys:
:as is a name of basic accessor for sliced object (result).
:slice is a hash of slicing options.
:resize is a hash of resizing options.
:processors - processors names.
:window - parameter for ActionView: The inner window size (4 by
default).
:outer_window - parameter for ActionView: The outer window size (0 by
default).
:left - parameter for ActionView: The left outer window size (0 by
default).
:right - parameter for ActionView: The right outer window size (0 by
default).
:params - parameter for ActionView: url_for parameters for the links
(:controller, :action, etc.)
:param_name - parameter for ActionView: parameter name for slice number
in the links. Accepts Symbol, String,Array.
:remote - parameter for ActionView: Ajax? (false by default)
:config - special key for using stylized configuration (premature
configuration).
Slicing options
:unit is a Regexp/String/Hash description of texts units counted to
split the text by slices.
When value is a Hash, it assumes the unit is a HTML tag (look at
:only/:except options for details). Undefined value or nilassumes it
default Regexp /&#?w+;|S/. As you see it counts any regular character/or
HTML special character as a unit.
:maximum is a Fixnum number of units to be a one slice.
If :unit defined as Regexp or String, default value is 300.
If :unit defined as Hash, default value is 10.
If :unit is default, default value is 2000.
:complete is a Regexp description of a character used to complete the
slice.
For example in case you want to end the slice with the complete word,
using :complete => /s+|z/ the counter would continue the slice until the
first whitespace character.
:limit - a Fixnum limit number of slices.
In many cases we just need the first slice to perform it as a partial.
:only is a Hash or Array of hashes, describes which exactly nodes of
HTML content to slice.*
:except is a Hash or Array of hashes, describes which exactly nodes of
HTML content NOT to slice.*
Actually the hash is a argument for HTML::Conditions class (the part of
ActionPacks html_scanner block). Look
atgithub.com/rails/rails/blob/master/actionpack/lib/action_controller/vendor/html-scanner/html/node.rb
This is a very flexible utility to navigate via HTML content. Read
native documentation for details.
For example: ID for
tag is a hash: {:tag => “hr”,
:attributes => {:class => “break”}}
Resizing options
:width is a Fixnum number of pixels as a target value to squeeze the
HTML tag. It does automatically proportional with the:height (if
existed). The percentage values ignored.
:only is a Hash or Array of hashes, describes which exactly nodes of
HTML content to resize.
:except is a Hash or Array of hashes, describes which exactly nodes of
HTML content NOT to resize.
Processors
Used to transform the source text before it sliced. Many of us are using
any markup languages for dynamic contents. This is it. Just create any
class as a subclass of HtmlSlicer::Processor, put it in
/lib/html_slicer_processors directory and define its name within the
:processors option.