# RDF::RDFa reader/writer [RDFa][RDFa 1.1 Core] parser for RDF.rb. ## DESCRIPTION RDF::RDFa is an RDFa reader and writer for Ruby using the [RDF.rb][RDF.rb] library suite. ## FEATURES RDF::RDFa parses [RDFa][RDFa 1.1 Core] into statements or triples. * Fully compliant RDFa 1.1 parser. * Template-based Writer to generate XHTML+RDFa. * Writer uses user-replacable [Haml][Haml]-based templates to generate RDFa. * If available, Uses Nokogiri for parsing HTML/SVG, falls back to REXML otherwise (and for JRuby) * [RDFa tests][RDFa-test-suite] use SPARQL for most tests due to Rasqal limitations. Other tests compare directly against N-triples. Install with 'gem install rdf-rdfa' ### Important changes from previous versions RDFa is an evolving standard, undergoing some substantial recent changes partly due to perceived competition with Microdata. As a result, the RDF Webapps working group is currently looking at changes in the processing model for RDFa. These changes are now being tracked in {RDF::RDFa::Reader}: #### RDFa 1.1 Lite This version fully supports the limited syntax of [RDFa Lite 1.1][]. This includes the ability to use @property exclusively. #### Remove RDFa Profiles RDFa Profiles were a mechanism added to allow groups of terms and prefixes to be defined in an external resource and loaded to affect the processing of an RDFa document. This introduced a problem for some implementations needing to perform a cross-origin GET in order to retrieve the profiles. The working group elected to drop support for user-defined RDFa Profiles (the default profiles defined by RDFa Core and host languages still apply) and replace it with an inference regime using vocabularies. Parsing of @profile has been removed from this version. #### Vocabulary Expansion One of the issues with vocabularies was that they discourage re-use of existing vocabularies when terms from several vocabularies are used at the same time. As it is common (encouraged) for RDF vocabularies to form sub-class and/or sub-property relationships with well defined vocabularies, the RDFa vocabulary expansion mechanism takes advantage of this. As an optional part of RDFa processing, an RDFa processor will perform limited [RDFS entailment](http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/#rules), specifically rules rdfs5, 7, 9 and 11. This causes sub-classes and sub-properties of type and property IRIs to be added to the output graph. {RDF::RDFa::Reader} implements this using the `#expand` method, which looks for `rdfa:hasVocabulary` properties within the output graph and performs such expansion. See an example in the usage section. #### RDF Collections (lists) One significant RDF feature missing from RDFa was support for ordered collections, or lists. RDF supports this with special properties `rdf:first`, `rdf:rest`, and `rdf:nil`, but other RDF languages have first-class support for this concept. For example, in [Turtle][Turtle], a list can be defined as follows: [ a schema:MusicPlayList; schema:name "Classic Rock Playlist"; schema:numTracks 5; schema:tracks ( [ a schema:MusicRecording; schema:name "Sweet Home Alabama"; schema:byArtist "Lynard Skynard"] [ a schema:MusicRecording; schema:name "Shook you all Night Long"; schema:byArtist "AC/DC"] [ a schema:MusicRecording; schema:name "Sharp Dressed Man"; schema:byArtist "ZZ Top"] [ a schema:MusicRecording; schema:name "Old Time Rock and Roll"; schema:byArtist "Bob Seger"] [ a schema:MusicRecording; schema:name "Hurt So Good"; schema:byArtist "John Cougar"] ) ] defines a playlist with an ordered set of tracks. RDFa adds the @inlist attribute, which is used to identify values (object or literal) that are to be placed in a list. The same playlist might be defined in RDFa as follows: <div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="MusicPlaylist"> <span property="name">Classic Rock Playlist</span> <meta property="numTracks" content="5"/> <div rel="tracks" inlist=""> <div typeof="MusicRecording"> 1.<span property="name">Sweet Home Alabama</span> - <span property="byArtist">Lynard Skynard</span> </div> <div typeof="MusicRecording"> 2.<span property="name">Shook you all Night Long</span> - <span property="byArtist">AC/DC</span> </div> <div typeof="MusicRecording"> 3.<span property="name">Sharp Dressed Man</span> - <span property="byArtist">ZZ Top</span> </div> <div typeof="MusicRecording"> 4.<span property="name">Old Time Rock and Roll</span> <span property="byArtist">Bob Seger</span> </div> <div typeof="MusicRecording"> 5.<span property="name">Hurt So Good</span> <span property="byArtist">John Cougar</span> </div> </div> </div> This basically does the same thing, but places each track in an rdf:List in the defined order. #### Property relations The @property attribute has been updated to allow for creating URI references as well as object literals. 1. If an element contains @property but no @rel, @datatype or @content and it contains a resource attribute (such as @href, @src, or @resource) 1. Generate an IRI object. Furthermore, sub-elements do not chain, i.e., the subject in effect when the @property is processed is also in effect for sub-elements. 2. Otherwise, generate a literal as before. For example: <a vocab="http://schema.org" property="url" href="http://example.com"> <span property="title">NBA Eastern Conference ...</span> </a> results in <> schema:url <http://example.com>; schema:title "NBA Eastern Conference". #### Magnetic @about/@typeof The @typeof attribute has changed; previously, it always created a new subject, either using a resource from @about, @resource and so forth. This has long been a source of errors for people using RDFa. The new rules cause @typeof to bind to a subject if used with @about, otherwise, to an object, if either used alone, or in combination with some other resource attribute (such as @href, @src or @resource). For example: <div typeof="foaf:Person" about="http://greggkellogg.net/foaf#me"> <p property="name">Gregg Kellogg</span> <a rel="knows" typeof="foaf:Person" href="http://manu.sporny.org/#this"> <span property="name">Manu Sporny</span> </a> </div> results in <http://greggkellogg.net/foaf#me> a foaf:Person; foaf:name "Gregg Kellogg"; foaf:knows <http://manu.sporny.org/#this> . <http://manu.sporny.org/#this> a foaf:Person; foaf:name "Manu Sporny" . Note that if the explicit @href is not present, i.e., <div typeof="foaf:Person" about="http://greggkellogg.net/foaf#me"> <p property="name">Gregg Kellogg</span> <a href="knows" typeof="foaf:Person"> <span property="name">Manu Sporny</span> </a> </div> this results in <http://greggkellogg.net/foaf#me> a foaf:Person; foaf:name "Gregg Kellogg"; foaf:knows [ a foaf:Person; foaf:name "Manu Sporny" ]. #### Property chaining If used without @rel, but with @typeof and a resource attribute, @property will cause chaining to another object just like @rel. The effect of this and other changes is to allow pretty much all RDFa to be marked up using just @property; @rel/@rev is no longer required. Although, @rel and @rev have useful features that @property does not, so it's worth keeping them in your toolkit. ## Usage ### Reading RDF data in the RDFa format graph = RDF::Graph.load("etc/doap.html", :format => :rdfa) ### Reading RDF data with vocabulary expansion graph = RDF::Graph.load("etc/doap.html", :format => :rdfa, :expand => true) or graph = RDF::RDFa::Reader.open("etc/doap.html").expand ### Writing RDF data using the XHTML+RDFa format require 'rdf/rdfa' RDF::RDFa::Writer.open("etc/doap.html") do |writer| writer << graph end Note that prefixes may be chained between Reader and Writer, so that the Writer will use the same prefix definitions found during parsing: prefixes = {} graph = RDF::Graph.load("etc/foaf.html", :prefixes => prefixes) puts graph.dump(:rdfa, :prefixes => prefixes) ### Template-based Writer The RDFa writer uses [Haml][Haml] templates for code generation. This allows fully customizable RDFa output in a variety of host languages. The [default template]({RDF::RDFa::Writer::DEFAULT_HAML}) generates human readable HTML5 output. A [minimal template]({RDF::RDFa::Writer::MIN_HAML}) generates HTML, which is not intended for human consumption. To specify an alternative Haml template, consider the following: require 'rdf/rdfa' RDF::RDFa::Writer.buffer(:haml => RDF::RDFa::Writer::MIN_HAML) << graph The template hash defines four Haml templates: * _doc_: Document Template, takes an ordered list of _subject_s and yields each one to be rendered. Described further in {RDF::RDFa::Writer#render_document}. !!! XML !!! 5 %html{:xmlns => "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml", :lang => lang, :prefix => prefix} - if base || title %head - if base %base{:href => base} - if title %title= title %body - subjects.each do |subject| != yield(subject) This template takes locals _lang_, _prefix_, _base_, _title_ in addition to _subjects_ to create output similar to the following: <!DOCTYPE html> <html prefix='xhv: http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/vocab#' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> <head> <base href="http://example/"> <title>Document Title</title> </head> <body> ... </body> </html> Options passed to the Writer are used to supply _lang_ and _base_ locals. _prefix_ is generated based upon prefixes found from the default profiles, as well as those provided by a previous Reader. _title_ is taken from the first top-level subject having an appropriate title property (as defined by the _heading_predicates_ option). * _subject_: Subject Template, take a _subject_ and an ordered list of _predicate_s and yields each _predicate_ to be rendered. Described further in {RDF::RDFa::Writer#render_subject}. - if element == :li %li{:rel => rel, :resource => resource, :inlist => inlist} - if typeof %span{:rel => 'rdf:type', :resource => typeof}.type!= typeof - predicates.each do |predicate| != yield(predicate) - elsif rel && typeof %div{:rel => rel} %div{:about => resource, :typeof => typeof} %span.type!= typeof - predicates.each do |predicate| != yield(predicate) - elsif rel %div{:rel => rel, :resource => resource} - predicates.each do |predicate| != yield(predicate) - else %div{:about => about, :typeof => typeof} - if typeof %span.type!= typeof - predicates.each do |predicate| != yield(predicate) The template takes locals _rel_ and _typeof_ in addition to _predicates_ and _subject_ to create output similar to the following: <div about="http://example/"> ... </div> Note that if _typeof_ is defined, in this template, it will generate a textual description. * _property\_value_: Property Value Template, used for predicates having a single value; takes a _predicate_, and a single-valued Array of _objects_. Described further in {RDF::RDFa::Writer#render\_property}. - if heading_predicates.include?(predicate) && object.literal? %h1{:property => get_curie(predicate), :content => get_content(object), :lang => get_lang(object), :datatype => get_dt_curie(object), :inlist => inlist}= escape_entities(get_value(object)) - else %div.property %span.label = get_predicate_name(predicate) - if res = yield(object) != res - elsif get_curie(object) == 'rdf:nil' %span{:rel => get_curie(predicate), :inlist => ''} - elsif object.node? %span{:resource => get_curie(object), :rel => get_curie(predicate), :inlist => inlist}= get_curie(object) - elsif object.uri? %a{:href => object.to_s, :rel => get_curie(predicate), :inlist => inlist}= object.to_s - elsif object.datatype == RDF.XMLLiteral %span{:property => get_curie(predicate), :lang => get_lang(object), :datatype => get_dt_curie(object), :inlist => inlist}<!= get_value(object) - else %span{:property => get_curie(predicate), :content => get_content(object), :lang => get_lang(object), :datatype => get_dt_curie(object), :inlist => inlist}= escape_entities(get_value(object)) In addition to _predicate_ and _objects_, the template takes _inlist_ to indicate that the property is part of an rdf:List. Also, if the predicate is identified as a _heading predicate_ (via _:heading\_predicates_ option), it will generate a heading element, and may use the value as the document title. Each _object_ is yielded to the calling block, and the result is rendered, unless nil. Otherwise, rendering depends on the type of _object_. This is useful for recursive document descriptions. Creates output similar to the following: <div class='property'> <span class='label'> xhv:alternate </span> <a href='http://rdfa.info/feed/' rel='xhv:alternate'>http://rdfa.info/feed/</a> </div> Note the use of methods defined in {RDF::RDFa::Writer} useful in rendering the output. * _property\_values_: Similar to _property\_value_, but for predicates having more than one value. Locals are identical to _property\_values_, but _objects_ is expected to have more than one value. %div.property %span.label = get_predicate_name(predicate) %ul - objects.each do |object| - if res = yield(object) != res - elsif object.node? %li{:rel => get_curie(predicate), :resource => get_curie(object), :inlist => inlist}= get_curie(object) - elsif object.uri? %li %a{:rel => get_curie(predicate), :href => object.to_s, :inlist => inlist}= object.to_s - elsif object.datatype == RDF.XMLLiteral %li{:property => get_curie(predicate), :lang => get_lang(object), :datatype => get_curie(object.datatype), :inlist => inlist}<!= get_value(object) - else %li{:property => get_curie(predicate), :content => get_content(object), :lang => get_lang(object), :datatype => get_dt_curie(object), :inlist => inlist}= escape_entities(get_value(object)) In this case, and unordered list is used for output. Creates output similar to the following: <div class='property'> <span class='label'> xhv:bookmark </span> <ul rel='xhv:bookmark'> <li> <a href='http://rdfa.info/2009/12/12/oreilly-catalog-uses-rdfa/'> http://rdfa.info/2009/12/12/oreilly-catalog-uses-rdfa/ </a> </li> <a href='http://rdfa.info/2010/05/31/new-rdfa-checker/'> http://rdfa.info/2010/05/31/new-rdfa-checker/ </a> </li> </ul> </div> If _property\_values_ does not exist, repeated values will be replecated using _property\_value_. * Type-specific templates. To simplify generation of different output types, the template may contain a elements indexed by a URI. When a subject with an rdf:type matching that URI is found, subsequent Haml definitions will be taken from the associated Hash. For example: { :document => "...", :subject => "...", :property\_value => "...", :property\_values => "...", RDF::URI("http://schema.org/Person") => { :subject => "...", :property\_value => "...", :property\_values => "...", } } ## Dependencies * [Ruby](http://ruby-lang.org/) (>= 1.9) or (>= 1.8.1 with [Backports][]) * [RDF.rb](http://rubygems.org/gems/rdf) (>= 0.3.1) * [Haml](https://rubygems.org/gems/haml) (>= 3.0.0) * [HTMLEntities](https://rubygems.org/gems/htmlentities) ('>= 4.3.0') * Soft dependency on [Nokogiri](http://rubygems.org/gems/nokogiri) (>= 1.3.3) ## Documentation Full documentation available on [Rubydoc.info][RDFa doc] ### Principle Classes * {RDF::RDFa::Format} * {RDF::RDFa::HTML} Asserts :html format, text/html mime-type and .html file extension. * {RDF::RDFa::XHTML} Asserts :html format, application/xhtml+xml mime-type and .xhtml file extension. * {RDF::RDFa::SVG} Asserts :svg format, image/svg+xml mime-type and .svg file extension. * {RDF::RDFa::Reader} * {RDF::RDFa::Reader::Nokogiri} * {RDF::RDFa::Reader::REXML} * {RDF::RDFa::Profile} * {RDF::RDFa::Writer} ### Additional vocabularies * {RDF::PTR} * {RDF::RDFA} * {RDF::XHV} * {RDF::XML} * {RDF::XSI} ## TODO * Add support for LibXML and REXML bindings, and use the best available * Consider a SAX-based parser for improved performance ## Resources * [RDF.rb][RDF.rb] * [Distiller](http://rdf.greggkellogg.net/distiller) * [Documentation][RDFa doc] * [History](file:file.History.html) * [RDFa 1.1 Core][RDFa 1.1 Core] * [XHTML+RDFa 1.1][XHTML+RDFa 1.1] * [RDFa-test-suite](http://rdfa.digitalbazaar.com/test-suite/ "RDFa test suite") ## Author * [Gregg Kellogg](http://github.com/gkellogg) - <http://kellogg-assoc.com/> ## Contributors * [Nicholas Humfrey](http://github.com/njh) ## Contributing * Do your best to adhere to the existing coding conventions and idioms. * Don't use hard tabs, and don't leave trailing whitespace on any line. * Do document every method you add using [YARD][] annotations. Read the [tutorial][YARD-GS] or just look at the existing code for examples. * Don't touch the `.gemspec`, `VERSION` or `AUTHORS` files. If you need to change them, do so on your private branch only. * Do feel free to add yourself to the `CREDITS` file and the corresponding list in the the `README`. Alphabetical order applies. * Do note that in order for us to merge any non-trivial changes (as a rule of thumb, additions larger than about 15 lines of code), we need an explicit [public domain dedication][PDD] on record from you. ## License This is free and unencumbered public domain software. For more information, see <http://unlicense.org/> or the accompanying {file:UNLICENSE} file. ## FEEDBACK * gregg@kellogg-assoc.com * <http://rubygems.org/rdf-rdfa> * <http://github.com/gkellogg/rdf-rdfa> * <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-rdf-ruby/> [RDF.rb]: http://rdf.rubyforge.org/ [YARD]: http://yardoc.org/ [YARD-GS]: http://rubydoc.info/docs/yard/file/docs/GettingStarted.md [PDD]: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-rdf-ruby/2010May/0013.html [RDFa 1.1 Core]: http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-rdfa-core-20110331/ "RDFa 1.1 Core" [RDFa Lite 1.1]: http://www.w3.org/2010/02/rdfa/drafts/2011/ED-rdfa-lite-20111030/ "RDFa Lite 1.1" [XHTML+RDFa 1.1]: http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-xhtml-rdfa-20110331/ "XHTML+RDFa 1.1" [RDFa-test-suite]: http://rdfa.digitalbazaar.com/test-suite/ "RDFa test suite" [RDFa doc]: http://rubydoc.info/github/gkellogg/rdf-rdfa/frames [Haml]: http://haml-lang.com/ [Turtle]: http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-turtle-20110809/