Htmleditorkit parser compresses whitespace whithin a PRE tag

Question

I'm using the parser to read an html document which includes a "PRE" tag and then space/newline formatted text. All the spaces and newlines are compresesed into a single space when the handleText callback is called. Is there any way of stopping this happening? Is it a bug?

Answer 1

Small example follows - as suggested it was a good exercise as I've been able to determine that the issue is actually pre-formatted text following a table.
package smalltestcase;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.swing.text.html.HTMLEditorKit;
import javax.swing.text.html.HTMLEditorKit.ParserCallback;
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Main m = new Main();
    public Main() {
        try {
            HTMLEditorKit.Parser parser = new ParseHTML().getParser();
            System.out.println("Test 1 - Processes <PRE> tag as expected\n");
            parser.parse(new InputStreamReader(new URL("http://www.screwtape.co.uk/test1.htm").openStream()), new Callback(), true);
            System.out.println("\n\nTest 2 - Whitespace following table is compressed\n");
            parser.parse(new InputStreamReader(new URL("http://www.screwtape.co.uk/test2.htm").openStream()), new Callback(), true);
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
    public class ParseHTML extends HTMLEditorKit {
        public HTMLEditorKit.Parser getParser() {
            return super.getParser();
    class Callback extends ParserCallback {
        public Callback() {
            super();
        public void handleText(char[] data, int pos) {
            System.out.println(data);
            for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
                System.out.print(data);
System.out.print("=" + String.valueOf((int) data[i]) + " ");
System.out.println("END");
}and the output this gives is:Test 1 - Processes <PRE> tag as expected
This is a test web page
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116 =32 w=119 e=101 b=98 =32 p=112 a=97 g=103 e=101 END
This is a test
with several lines
and a table made using spaces
column 1 column 2
row 1 col 1 row 1 col 2
row 2 col 1 row 2 col 2
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116
=10 w=119 i=105 t=116 h=104 =32 s=115 e=101 v=118 e=101 r=114 a=97 l=108 =32 l=108 i=105 n=110 e=101 s=115
=10 a=97 n=110 d=100 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 a=97 b=98 l=108 e=101 =32 m=109 a=97 d=100 e=101 =32 u=117 s=115 i=105 n=110 g=103 =32 s=115 p=112 a=97 c=99 e=101 s=115
=10 c=99 o=111 l=108 u=117 m=109 n=110 =32 1=49 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 u=117 m=109 n=110 =32 2=50
=10 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 1=49 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 1=49 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 1=49 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 2=50
=10 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 2=50 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 1=49 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 2=50 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 2=50 END
Test 2 - Whitespace following table is compressed
This is a test web page
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116 =32 w=119 e=101 b=98 =32 p=112 a=97 g=103 e=101 END
This is a test before
the table
with several lines
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116 =32 b=98 e=101 f=102 o=111 r=114 e=101
=10 t=116 h=104 e=101 =32 t=116 a=97 b=98 l=108 e=101
=10 w=119 i=105 t=116 h=104 =32 s=115 e=101 v=118 e=101 r=114 a=97 l=108 =32 l=108 i=105 n=110 e=101 s=115
=10 END
This is a test
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116 END
cell in a table
c=99 e=101 l=108 l=108 =32 i=105 n=110 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 a=97 b=98 l=108 e=101 END
Test cell2
T=84 e=101 s=115 t=116 =32 c=99 e=101 l=108 l=108 2=50 END
This is a test with several lines and a table made using spaces column 1 column 2 row 1 col 1 row 1 col 2 row 2 col 1 row 2 col 2
T=84 h=104 i=105 s=115 =32 i=105 s=115 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 e=101 s=115 t=116 =32 w=119 i=105 t=116 h=104 =32 s=115 e=101 v=118 e=101 r=114 a=97 l=108 =32 l=108 i=105 n=110 e=101 s=115 =32 a=97 n=110 d=100 =32 a=97 =32 t=116 a=97 b=98 l=108 e=101 =32 m=109 a=97 d=100 e=101 =32 u=117 s=115 i=105 n=110 g=103 =32 s=115 p=112 a=97 c=99 e=101 s=115 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 u=117 m=109 n=110 =32 1=49 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 u=117 m=109 n=110 =32 2=50 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 1=49 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 1=49 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 1=49 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 2=50 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 2=50 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 1=49 =32 r=114 o=111 w=119 =32 2=50 =32 c=99 o=111 l=108 =32 2=50 END
Any further suggestions? I'm trying to read an external website, and have no control over the content, so unfortunately I can't adjust the source page.
TIA
DK.