Greetings all,

I've got a task that needs automation, but I have yet to find the answer (a=
nd I
don't have any interns to help me in the form of forced labor ;)

I have to convert sets of html files that are manuals into something printa=
ble
or readable on an ebook reader (kindle for instance). These pages (html pag=
es)
are in the hundreds, and typically in a simple tree with a contents page
linking to chapter pages linking to pages. Some have next> <prev functional=
ity,
but that doesn't change things. Readers like the kindle don't like web
hierarchies or local (stored on the reader) html - they like pdf, text, mob=
i,
etc files. They were created a while ago. Rewriting is not an option, and  =
I
have to do quite a few like this.

The 'manual' way would be individually printing each page perhaps to a pdf,=
 and
merging. Even with drag-drop and a few clicks each it could drive one to
insanity! Canon once had an app that could take a web page, fetch all the l=
inks
on the page, and cat them in order into one doc. I can't find anything like
that now, but that's the idea!

I can put the pages on a server and mirror them locally for a tree, or I ca=
n
mirror them and put in one directory (spider tool doing the link translatio=
n).
Either way, Cat'ing html files doesn't work, obviously. I just need a way t=
o
get the text of the pages into one file, in original link order and without
garbling paragraph (and heading) format (nothing fancy, just paragraphs sho=
uld
still be paragraphs and headings should be lines of their own). No graphics=
 at
this point, but I may need that later, but either way is good.

Just in case I'm not being clear, the tool would have to take a web page (u=
rl
or html file) and output at least the text to a file, followed by the text =
of
the file in the first link on the page, followed by the text of the next li=
nk,
and so on. A page break between each might be nice too. ;)

Any ideas? Write to me off list if this is a bore to folks. However, I thin=
k it
might be useful to a lot of us who deal with engineering documentation and =
I
don't know why someone hasn't come up with something or if they have, why i=
t's
so hard to find. Hopefully someone knows where one is and I'm just not look=
ing
in the right places. Google has not been my friend...

Thanks in advance,
Skip


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