NAME
    HTML::FromText - Convert plain text to HTML.

SYNOPSIS
        use HTML::FromText;
        text2html( $text, %options );

        # or

        use HTML::FromText ();
        my $t2h  = HTML::FromText->new( \%options );
        my $html = $t2h->parse( $html );

DESCRIPTION
    "HTML::FromText" converts plain text to HTML. There are a handfull of
    options that shape the conversion. There is a utility function,
    "text2html", that's exported by default. This function is simply a
    short- cut to the Object Oriented interface described in detail below.

  Methods
    The following methods may be used as the public interface.

   new
        my $t2h = HTML::FromText->new({
            paras      => 1,
            blockcode  => 1,
            tables     => 1,
            bullets    => 1,
            numbers    => 1,
            urls       => 1,
            email      => 1,
            bold       => 1,
            underline  => 1,
        });

    Constructs a new "HTML::FromText" object using the given configuration.
    The resulting object can parse lots of objects using the "parse" method.

    Options to "new" are passed by name, with the value being either true or
    false. If true, the option will be turned on. If false, it will be
    turned off. The following outlines all the options.

   Decorators
    metachars
         This option is on by default.

         All characters that are unsafe for HTML display will be encoded
         using "HTML::Entities::encode_entities()".

    urls This option is off by default.

         Replaces URLs with links.

    email
         This option is off by default.

         Replaces email addresses with "mailto:" links.

    bold This option is off by default.

         Replaces text surrounded by asterisks ("*") with the same text
         surrounded by "strong" tags.

    underline
         This option is off by default.

         Replaces text surrownded by underscores ("_") with the same text
         surrounded by "span" tags with an underline style.

   Output Modes
    The following are three output modes and the options associated with
    them. They are listed in order of precidence. If none of these modes are
    supplied, the basic decorators are applied to the text in whole.

    pre  This option is off by default.

         Wraps the entire text in "pre" tags.

    lines
         This option is off by default.

         Preserves line breaks by inserting "br" tags at the end of each
         line.

         This mode has further options.

         spaces
              This option is off by default.

              All spaces are HTML encoded.

    paras
         This option is off by default.

         Preserves paragraphs by wrapping them in "p" tags.

         This mode has further options.

         bullets
              This option is off by default.

              Convert bulleted lists into unordered lists ("ul"). Bullets
              can be either an asterisk ("*") or a hyphen ("-"). Lists can
              be nested.

         numbers
              This option is off by default.

              Convert numbered lists into ordered lists ("ol"). Numbered
              lists are identified by numerals. Lists may be nested.

         headings
              This option is off by default.

              Convert paragraphs identified as headings into HTML headings
              at the appropriate level. The heading "1. Top" would be
              heading level one ("h1"). The heading "2.5.1. Blah" would be
              heading level three ("h3").

         title
              This option is off by default.

              Convert the first paragraph to a heading level one ("h1").

         tables
              This option is off by default.

              Convert paragraphs identified as tables to HTML tables. Tables
              are two or more rows and two or more columns. Columns should
              be separated by two or more spaces.

         The following options apply specifically to indented paragraphs.
         They are listed in order of precidence.

         blockparas
              This option is off by default.

              Convert indented paragraphs to block quotes using the
              "blockquote" tag.

         blockquotes
              Convert indented paragraphs as "blockparas" would, but also
              preserving line breaks.

         blockcode
              Convert indented paragraphs as "blockquotes" would, but also
              preserving spaces using "pre" tags.

   parse
      my $html = $t2h->parse( $text );

    Parses text supplied as a single scalar string and returns the HTML as a
    single scalar string. All the tabs in your text will be expanded using
    "Text::Tabs::expand()".

  Functions
   text2html
        my $html = text2html(
                             $text,
                             urls  => 1,
                             email => 1,
                            );

    Functional interface that just wraps the OO interface. This function is
    exported by default. If you don't want it you can "require" the module
    or "use" it with an empty list.

        require HTML::FromText;
        # or ...
        use HTML::FromText ();

  Subclassing
    Note: At the time of this release, the internals of "HTML::FromText" are
    in a state of development and cannot be expected to stay the same from
    release to release. I expect that release version 3.00 will be analogous
    to a 1.00 release of other software. This is because the current
    maintainer has rewritten this distribution from the ground up for the
    "2.x" series. You have been warned.

    The following methods may be used for subclassing "HTML::FromText" to
    create your own text to HTML conversions. Each of these methods is
    passed just one argument, the object ($self), unless otherwise stated.

    The structure of $self is as follows for this release.

        {
         options => {
                     option_name => $value,
                     ...
                    },
         text    => $text, # as passed to parse(), with tabs expanded
         html    => $html, # the HTML that will be returned from parse()
        }

   pre
    Used when "pre" mode is specified.

    Should set "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   lines
    Used when "lines" mode is specified.

    Implements the "spaces" option internally when the option is set to a
    true value.

    Should set "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   paras
    Used when the "paras" mode is specified.

    Splits "$self->{text}" into paragraphs internally and sets up
    "$self->{paras}" as follows.

        paras => {
                  0 => {
                        text => $text, # paragraph text
                        html => $html, # paragraph html
                       },
                  ... # and so on for all paragraphs
                 },

    Implements the "title" option internally when the option is turned on.

    Converts any normal paragraphs to HTML paragraphs (surrounded by "p"
    tags) internally.

    Should set "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   headings
    Used to format headings when the "headings" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   bullets
    Format bulleted lists when the "bullets" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   numbers
    Format numbered lists when the "numbers" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   tables
    Format tables when the "tables" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   blockparas
    Used when the "blockparas" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   blockquotes
    Used when the "blockquotes" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   blockcode
    Used when the "blockcode" option is turned on.

    Return value is ignored.

   urls
    Turn urls into links when "urls" option is turned on.

    Should operate on "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   email
    Turn email addresses into "mailto:" links when "email" option is turned
    on.

    Should operate on "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   underline
    Underline things between _underscores_ when "underline" option is turned
    on.

    Should operate on "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   bold
    Bold things between *asterisks* when "bold" option is turned on.

    Should operate on "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

   metachars
    Encode meta characters when "metachars" option is turned on.

    Should operate on "$self->{html}".

    Return value is ignored.

  Output
    The output from "HTML::FromText" has been updated to pass XHTML 1.1
    validation. Every HTML tag that should have a CSS class name does. They
    are prefixed with "hft-" and correspond to the names of the options to
    "new()" (or "text2html()"). For example "hft-lines", "hft-paras", and
    "hft-urls".

    One important note is the output for "underline". Because the <u> tag is
    deprecated in this specification a "span" is used with a style attribute
    of "text-decoration: underline". The class is "hft- underline". If you
    want to override the "text-decoration" style in the CSS class you'll
    need to do so like this.

        text-decoration: none !important;

SEE ALSO
    text2html(1).

AUTHOR
    Casey West <casey@geeknest.com>.

AUTHOR EMERITUS
    Gareth Rees <garethr@cre.canon.co.uk>.

COPYRIGHT
      Copyright (c) 2003 Casey West.  All rights reserved.
      This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
      under the same terms as Perl itself.