NAME
    BBCode::Parser - Parses BBCode tags

DESCRIPTION
    BBCode is a simplified markup language used in several online forums and
    bulletin boards. It originated with phpBB, and remains most popular
    among applications written in PHP. Generally, users author their posts
    in BBCode, and the forum converts it to a permitted subset of
    well-formed HTML.

    "BBCode::Parser" is a proper recursive parser for BBCode-formatted text.

OVERVIEW
    A "BBCode::Parser" object represents various settings that affect the
    parsing process. Simple settings are typically set when the parser is
    created using "new", but they can be queried using "get" and altered
    using "set".

    See "SETTINGS" for more information.

    In addition to the simple settings, specific BBCode tags (or classes of
    tags) can be permitted or forbidden, using "permit" and "forbid"
    respectively. By default, the only forbidden tag is "[HTML]", which is
    normally a security violation if permitted.

    See "CLASSES" for a list of tag classes.

    Once the parser has been configured appropriately, parse trees can be
    created using the "parse" method. The parse tree will consist of objects
    derived from BBCode::Tag; the root of the tree will be a BBCode::Body.

    Converting the parse tree to HTML is quite simple: call toHTML() on the
    root of the tree. Likewise, the parse tree can be converted back to
    BBCode by calling toBBCode(). See "METHODS" in BBCode::Tag to find out
    what other output methods are available.

SETTINGS
    The following settings can be manipulated using "get" and "set".

    css_prefix
        (Type: String; Default: "bbcode-")

        Many BBCode tags will add CSS classes as style hooks in the output
        HTML, such as "<div class="bbcode-quote">...</div>". This setting
        allows you to override the naming scheme for those hooks. At the
        moment, more direct control of the CSS class names is not available.

    css_direct_styles
        (Type: Boolean; Default: FALSE)

        Certain style-related BBCode tags, such as [U] (underline) and [S]
        (strike-through) don't have a direct equivalent in modern XHTML 1.0
        Strict. If this value is TRUE, then the generated HTML will use a
        "style" attribute on a "<span>" tag to simulate the effects. If this
        value is FALSE, then the style attribute will be omitted. In either
        case, a "class" attribute is provided for use as a hook by external
        CSS stylesheets (not provided).

    follow_links
        (Type: Boolean; Default: FALSE)

        To prevent blog spam and the like, many search engines now allow
        HTML authors to indicate that specific URLs on a page should not be
        indexed. If this value is TRUE, then there will be nothing special
        about the URL (meaning that search engines are encouraged to follow
        the link). If this value is FALSE, then a "rel="nofollow"" attribute
        will be added wherever it makes sense (warning search engines that
        the link might be spam).

        Whether or not to set this value to TRUE will depend on what you're
        using "BBCode::Parser" for. If you're implementing a forum or
        bulletin board, TRUE might be reserved for senior, more trusted
        members. If you're implementing a blog, the value might be TRUE for
        the blog owner but FALSE for visitors.

        For more information, see
        <http://www.google.com/webmasters/bot.html#www>.

    follow_override
        (Type: Boolean; Default: FALSE)

        This BBCode implementation allows a user to override the
        follow_links setting using a BBCode extension, "FOLLOW=1". If this
        value is TRUE, the user can override "follow_links"; otherwise, the
        user must abide by "follow_links".

        The same considerations that apply to "follow_links" also apply to
        this setting.

    allow_image_bullets
        (Type: Boolean; Default: TRUE)

        This setting allows you to restrict users from creating lists with
        custom bullets.

CLASSES
    FIXME: Add documentation on tag classes.

METHODS
  DEFAULT
            my $tree = DEFAULT->parse($code);

    "DEFAULT" returns the default parser. If you change the default parser,
    all future parsers created with "new" will incorporate your changes.
    However, all existing parsers will be unaffected.

  clone
            my $parser = BBCode::Parser->new(follow_links => 1);
            my $clone = $parser->clone;
            $clone->forbid('IMG');
            printf "[IMG] is%s OK\n", ($parser->isPermitted('IMG') ? "" : " not");
            # Prints "[IMG] is OK", since forbid('IMG') applies only to the clone.

    "clone" creates a new parser that copies the settings of an existing
    parser. After cloning, the two parsers are completely independent;
    changing settings in one does not affect the other.

    If any arguments are given, they are handed off to the set() method.

  new
            my $parser = BBCode::Parser->new(%args);

    "new" creates a new "BBCode::Parser". Any arguments are handed off to
    the set() method.

  get
            if($parser->get('follow_override')) {
                    # [URL FOLLOW] permitted
            } else {
                    # [URL FOLLOW] forbidden
            }

    "get" fetches the current settings for the given parser. See "SETTINGS"
    for a list of available settings.

  set
            $parser->set(follow_override => 1);

    "set" alters the settings for the given parser. See "SETTINGS" for a
    list of available settings.

  permit
            $parser->permit(qw(:INLINE !:LINK));

    "permit" adds TAGs and :CLASSes to the list of permitted tags. Use '!'
    in front of a tag or class to negate the meaning.

  forbid
            $parser->forbid(qw(:ALL !:TEXT));

    "forbid" adds TAGs and :CLASSes to the list of forbidden tags. Use '!'
    in front of a tag or class to negate the meaning.

  isPermitted
            if($parser->isPermitted('IMG')) {
                    # Yay, [IMG] tags
            } else {
                    # Darn, no [IMG] tags
            }

    "isPermitted" checks if a tag is permitted by the current settings.

  parse
            my $tree = $parser->parse('[b]BBCode[/b] text.');

    "parse" creates a parse tree for the given BBCode. The result is a tree
    of BBCode::Tag objects. The most common use of the parse tree is to
    convert it to HTML using BBCode::Tag->toHTML():

            my $html = $tree->toHTML;

SEE ALSO
    BBCode::Tag

    <svn://chronos-tachyon.net/projects/BBCode-Parser>

AUTHOR
    Donald King <dlking@cpan.org>