---
name: "Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "lire"
version: "2.1.1-8"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter"
---

# Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter(3pm)

Lire::ReportParser subclass which formats description.

## NAME

Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter - Lire::ReportParser subclass which formats description.

## SYNOPSIS

To format DocBook:

```
    use Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter qw/dbk2txt/;
    my $txt = dbk2txt( "<para>Test</para>" );
```

In XML Report processors :

```
    package MyParser;
    use base qw/ Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter Lire::ReportParser /;
    sub new {
        my $self = shift->SUPER::new( @_ );
        $self->init_docbook_formatter( @_ );
        return $self;
    }
    sub handle_description {
        my ( $self, $desc ) = @_;
        print $desc;
        return;
    }
```

## DESCRIPTION

This package implements methods that can handle the content of `"description"` elements and it can be used by a subclass of Lire::ReportParser. Client only have to inherit from this module so that a **handle\_description()** method is available to process the text formatted DocBook description.

This module also provide a convenient **dbk2txt()** function which can be used to format a string containing DocBook elements into an ASCII equivalent.

## USING Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter

Lire::ReportParser processors that would like to work with text version of the description should inherit from Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter in addition to Lire::ReportParser. If they override the **description\_start()**, **description\_end()**methods, they **must** link to their parents' version using `"SUPER::"`.

Additionnally, they should merge the value **elements\_spec()** in their **elements\_spec()** implementation.

The Lire::ReportParser::AsciiDocBookFormatter should be listed before Lire::ReportParser in the `@ISA`. The AsciiDocBookFormatter doesn't inherit directly from Lire::ReportParser so that it can be used in multiple inheritance scenario.

The subclass should call the **init\_docbook\_formatter()** method from their constructor method to initialize the DocBookFormatter module.

### init\_docbook\_formatter( %params )

The initializer recognizes some parameters that can be used to control the behavior of the DocBook handling:

- columns

  The number of columns in which the DocBook text should be formatted. Defaults to 72.

### dbk\_start\_processing()

Initializes the parser's structure for formatting DocBook XML as ASCII. This is used from the description\_start implementation.

### dbk\_end\_processing()

Cleans the parser structure. This is used from the **description\_end()**  implementation.

### handle\_description( $description )

This method is invoked after the closing tag of the `"description"` element is encountered. The `$description` contains the description formatted in plain text.

## FORMATTING DocBook STRINGS

If you have DocBook content in a string, like you can obtain from some of the Report Specifications object, you can format it in plain text using the **dbx2txt()** function.

### dbk2txt( $docbook\_str, \[$columns\] )

Returns a plain text version of the DocBook XML fragment `$docbook_str`. The `"columns"` parameter sets the number of columns in which the DocBook text should be formatted.

This method will **die()** in case of error.

## SEE ALSO

[**Lire::ReportParser**(3pm)](/Lire::ReportParser/3pm.md)

## VERSION

`$Id:` AsciiDocBookFormatter.pm,v 1.13 2006/07/23 13:16:31 vanbaal Exp $

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2001-2004 Stichting LogReport Foundation LogReport@LogReport.org

This file is part of Lire.

Lire is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program (see COPYING); if not, check with http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.

## AUTHOR

Francis J. Lacoste \<flacoste@logreport.org\>