Batch Wizard

The Batch Wizard is a powerful tool that helps you quickly validate multiple documents (or use a tool on them) and view the results in a single or multi-page report.

The Batch Wizard can follow links and, if desired, can also check the links of a website without validating the individual documents (by doing only a link check).

NOTE: The standard and lite editions do not include the Batch Wizard, and the professional trial version may be limited (depending on the tool being used) to checking a small number of documents so that the limited number of trial validations are not quickly used up. To fully use the Batch Wizard without trial limitations, a licensed version is required.

Batch Wizard Tool

Using the Batch Wizard Directly from the Editor

You can use the Batch Wizard to quickly generate an HTML validation report for the web document that you are editing in HTML Validator's integrated editor by selecting Validate->Validate with Batch Wizard or by pressing Shift+F2 in the integrated editor. To validate all the non-empty documents that are open in the editor and that are recognized (by file extension) as checkable documents, select Validate->Validate All with Batch Wizard or press Alt+F2.

Using the Batch Wizard Standalone

1.	Open the Batch Wizard by running CSE HTML Validator Pro and then choosing Tools->Batch Wizard or pressing F2.

Create a list of targets that you want to process (you can process by validating or by using a tool on the targets). This is called a target list. Targets can be files, URLs, or folders. To add targets, use the Target menu, toolbar, or the context/pop-up menu for the Target List tab. You can also drag and drop files and folders onto the target list to add them. Duplicate targets that are already in the target list cannot and will not be added again.

3.	When you've added all the targets to the target list, we recommend that you save the target list (though this is not required). You can do this by choosing File->Save List. You can save the target list in the folder where HTML Validator is installed or in any other folder.

4.	Set up the options by choosing Options->Batch Wizard Options, pressing F4, or using the button on the toolbar.

You can view and/or change the options for the individual targets by viewing an individual target's properties. Do this if you are validating the targets and you want the Batch Wizard to follow the links in a target so that the links are validated too. Again, you may want to save any changes you make by saving the target list.

Start processing the targets in the target list. An easy way to do this is to press the Process List button on the toolbar (or press F6). The processing progress will be displayed in the Batch Progress tab. If you want to abort the processing, then you can press the Stop button on the toolbar (or press F7). Depending on where the Batch Wizard is in the processing cycle will determine how long it is until the processing is actually aborted so you may have to wait a few seconds for the processing to stop after you hit the Stop button.

If you used the validator, spell check, or link check tool on the targets, then you can view the validation, spell check, or link check report when processing is completed. When completed, the report will open automatically unless you have changed the options to not automatically open the report. If you used another tool, such as the template tool, reports are not generated.

8.	To process the list again, press the Process List button (or press F6) again. To make sure that all targets are processed again, you may first want to choose Target->All Targets->Set Process to Yes.

Also see the Validate an Entire Website topic.

Tips

For some helpful tips about using the Batch Wizard, see the Batch Wizard Tips topic.

Notes

•	The Batch Wizard does not support cookies.

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If a username and password is set for a parent URL target and the Batch Wizard is following links, then that same username and password will be used to follow child links if the domain and path of the child links match the domain and path of the parent URL. If, for some reason, the domain and path do not match and the Batch Wizard is not using the username and password to fetch the child links as desired, then checking the Set usernames and passwords when only domains match option in the Editor Options, Link Checking page may correct the problem.

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When a folder target is processed, the files in the folder that match an HTML file type extension will be processed. If the folder target includes subfolders, then the files in the subfolders that match an HTML file type extension will also be processed. The HTML file type extensions that the Batch Wizard recognizes are configurable in the File Types page of the Editor Options. If a file has no extension, then it will be processed if CSE HTML Validator Pro is configured to assume that files with no extension have an HTML file type. You can configure this in the File Types page of the Editor Options.

•	There is no undo function. If you do something that you want to undo, then you will have to manually undo it. For example, if you delete a target that you did not want to delete, then you will have to manually add it back to the target list.

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In the target list, the Batch Wizard normally displays an icon for folder and file targets (not for URL targets). If a file or folder target is or becomes inaccessible (such as if it's on a network or removable drive that is not currently available), then the icon may disappear or not be shown. This is normal behavior.

Advanced

•	You can manually or automatically (using your own automatic methods) create a target list file that can be loaded into the Batch Wizard if you know the file format for target lists.

Legend

•	Proc - this column can be 'Yes' or 'No'. Set to 'Yes' to process the target when the target list is processed. Set to 'No' to ignore the target.

•	Flags - this column gives additional information about the target.

•	D - target is a directory/folder

•	F - target is a file

•	I - for folders: include subfolders/subdirectories

•	L - follow links: when validating, spell checking, or link checking, the links in the target will be extracted and checked (with certain exceptions that can be specified)

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N - never validate: targets will never be validated; only the other tools will be used on the target (N flags for URL targets don't make any sense-- it causes the URL to never be validated and another tool can't be used on a URL target either, so if the N flag is set for a URL target, then it will never be processed.)

•	P - for URLs: uses a username and password to download the URL. Note that the password used to download the URL is not stored securely in the *.lst file when you save the target list.

•	U - target is a URL

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Results - This column shows the number of errors, warnings, bad links, and unique misspellings found during the last completed (not aborted) target list processing that used the validator tool (example: 05e,03w,05b,03m for 5 errors, 3 warnings, 5 bad links, and 3 uniquely misspelled words). Note that the number of bad links will always be zero unless link checking is enabled. Furthermore, the displayed number of errors, warnings, bad links, and misspellings is limited to two digits each, making 99 the maximum number that will be displayed. Note also that this column shows the cumulative number of errors, warnings, bad links, and misspellings for all the targets validated under the specific target. For example, if the target is a folder target that resulted in validating ten documents because the ten documents were in the folder, then the number of errors, warnings, bad links, and misspellings is the cumulative number of errors, warnings, bad links, and misspellings for all ten documents. Similarly, for targets where follow links is enabled, the results shown include the cumulative results of all documents followed for that target.