README

A PHP wrapper/client for the W3C validator API

Quick disclaimer

I'm unsure how stable the actual W3C API is, as it's documented as experimental and subject to change; don't be surprised if things stop working. You can read more at http://validator.w3.org/docs/api.html

Pay special attention to this notice:

If you wish to call the validator programmatically for a batch of documents, please make sure that your script will sleep for at least 1 second between requests. The Markup Validation service is a free, public service for all, your respect is appreciated. thanks.

When making multiple calls through a validator instance, this will be done for you (see below).

Requirements:

• PHP 5.3+
• * cURL
• * SimpleXML

* Can be abstracted away by providing alternative interfaces

Installation

This package can be installed manually or via Composer.

Composer

Add the following to your project's composer.json:

"repositories": [
    {
        "type": "vcs",
        "url":  "https://github.com/tcopestake/w3capi"
    }
],

and:

"require": {
    "tcopestake/w3capi": "*"
},

Manual

Download and extract the files.

If your project doesn't already have a suitable autoloader, you can use the one provided by including src/bootstrap.php:

include('path/to/src/bootstrap.php');

Usage

The validator

To validate a document:

$validator = new \W3CAPI\Validator;

try {
    $validator->validate('http://url.test.com/a-html-page');
} catch(\W3CAPI\Exceptions\SoapClientBadResponse $e) {
    echo "Most likely, W3C reported a server error.";
} catch(\W3CAPI\ValidatorUnknownError $e) {
    echo "Something went wrong, but we don't know what.";
}

If successful, information can then be retrieved from the instance, such as whether the document passed validation:

echo ($validator->isValid()) ? 'Valid' : 'Invalid';

and information about semantic validation errors:

if($validator->getErrorCount() > 0) {
    foreach($validator->getErrors() as $error) {
        /*
         * $error will be an array
         * containing the error message, etc.
         *
         */
    }
}

and information about validation warnings:

if($validator->getWarningCount() > 0) {
    foreach($validator->getWarnings() as $warning) {
        /*
         * $warning will be an array
         * containing the warning message, etc.
         *
         */
    }
}

If you wish to validate another document, the validator instance can be easily reused:

try {
    $validator->validate('http://another.url.com/shame.css');
} catch(\W3CAPI\Exceptions\SoapClientBadResponse $e) {
    echo "Most likely, W3C reported a server error.";
} catch(\W3CAPI\ValidatorUnknownError $e) {
    echo "Something went wrong, but we don't know what.";
}

Note that when making subsequent calls, the validator class will enforce W3C's "1 second" rule by delaying sending the request if necessary.

Tests

There are unit tests.

Possible developments(?)

• Support for validating documents via POST upload.
• More documentation (esp. on dependency injection).
• Revisit the XML parser.
• More transparency between classes e.g. ability to retrieve HTTP headers
• Peer pressure is forcing me to switch to PSR-2, but my muscle memory forgets this sometimes.