epubcheck Error

mdpeterson42 · 05-19-2024, 01:25 PM

Hi all,

I am trying to publish my first book. I wrote it in HTML and converted it to epub using Calibre. On the Google Play Store, I received the following error on about half of my splits and I have no idea how to address them:

Error while parsing file: attribute "class" not allowed here; expected attribute "dir", "lang", "version" or "xml:lang"

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

JSWolf · 05-19-2024, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdpeterson42

Hi all,

I am trying to publish my first book. I wrote it in HTML and converted it to epub using Calibre. On the Google Play Store, I received the following error on about half of my splits and I have no idea how to address them:

Error while parsing file: attribute "class" not allowed here; expected attribute "dir", "lang", "version" or "xml:lang"

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

There is no a lot anyone can do unless we see the code that has the errors and a few lines before and after.

mdpeterson42 · 05-19-2024, 01:46 PM

Here is the code for the entire first split:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="calibre">
<head>
<title>Unknown</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="page_styles.css"/>
</head>
<body class="calibre1">
<p class="halftitle" id="calibre_toc_1">THE ULTIMATE H.P. LOVECRAFT</p>

<div class="calibre2" id="calibre_pb_1"></div>
</body></html>

Doitsu · 05-19-2024, 01:58 PM

Delete the part marked in red.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="calibre">

JSWolf · 05-19-2024, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdpeterson42

Here is the code for the entire first split:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="calibre">
<head>
<title>Unknown</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="page_styles.css"/>
</head>
<body class="calibre1">
<p class="halftitle" id="calibre_toc_1">THE ULTIMATE H.P. LOVECRAFT</p>

<div class="calibre2" id="calibre_pb_1"></div>
</body></html>

The class="calibre" is incorrect where it is.

The following code is correct.

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Unknown</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="page_styles.css"/>
</head>
<body class="calibre1">
<p class="halftitle" id="calibre_toc_1">THE ULTIMATE H.P. LOVECRAFT</p>
<div class="calibre2" id="calibre_pb_1"></div>
</body>
</html>

mdpeterson42 · 05-19-2024, 02:20 PM

Thank you both so much!

mdpeterson42 · 05-19-2024, 11:54 PM

OK, so my new issue is the following error:

Error while parsing file: element "a" not allowed here; expected element "address", "blockquote", "del", "div", "dl", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "hr", "ins", "noscript", "ns:svg", "ol", "p", "pre", "script", "table" or "ul" (with xmlns:ns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg")

This is in reference to a line that was a location for a link elsewhere in the book. In the HTML code, I used:

<a name="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</P>

In calibre, it changed that to:

<a id="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p>
<p class="subsubtitle" id="calibre_toc_17">

I assume I can't just take out "a" but I am not sure what to replace it with.

Thank you!

DNSB · 05-20-2024, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdpeterson42

OK, so my new issue is the following error:

Error while parsing file: element "a" not allowed here; expected element "address", "blockquote", "del", "div", "dl", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "hr", "ins", "noscript", "ns:svg", "ol", "p", "pre", "script", "table" or "ul" (with xmlns:ns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg")

This is in reference to a line that was a location for a link elsewhere in the book. In the HTML code, I used:

<a name="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</P>

In calibre, it changed that to:

<a id="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p>
<p class="subsubtitle" id="calibre_toc_17">

I assume I can't just take out "a" but I am not sure what to replace it with.

Thank you!

You have to surround the <a>...</a> with a block level element such as <div> or <p>. Right now you don't seem to even have the closing </a> required (ePub does not allow unclosed elements though most web browsers will disregard them. Not to mention that name="..." is not valid in ePub2 but is valid in ePub3.

For ePub 3, a file with the <a name="TCOOS"> by itself checked by epubcheck give a:

Code:

FATAL(RSC-016): Fatal Error while parsing file: The element type "a" must be terminated by the matching end-tag "</a>".

so <a name="TCOOS"></a> does not trigger an error.

For ePub 2, a file with the <a name="TCOOS"> by itself checked by epubcheck gives 3 error messages:

Code:

ERROR(RSC-005): Error while parsing file: attribute "name" not allowed here; expected attribute "accesskey", "charset", "class", "coords", "dir", "href", "hreflang", "id", "lang", "rel", "rev", "shape", "style", "tabindex", "target", "title", "type" or "xml:lang"
ERROR(RSC-005): Error while parsing file: element "a" not allowed here; expected element "address", "blockquote", "del", "div", "dl", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "hr", "ins", "noscript", "ns:svg", "ol", "p", "pre", "script", "table" or "ul" (with xmlns:ns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg")
FATAL(RSC-016): Fatal Error while parsing file: The element type "a" must be terminated by the matching end-tag "</a>".

Adding the </a> for ePub 2 doesn't help much since the <a>...</a> must be inside a block level element (div, p, see the documentation for the full list).

Generally, I find converting an ePub3 input file to an output ePub2 file with calibre is a total pain. Setting the EPUB output to output version 3 helps but still not a great experience.

Karellen · 05-20-2024, 01:16 AM

They look like headings. Why not use the correct heading tags?

<h2>THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</h2>
(or maybe <h3> depending on the books heading hierarchy)

and you can do away with all the other tags.

DNSB · 05-20-2024, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

They look like headings. Why not use the correct heading tags?

<h2>THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</h2>
(or maybe <h3> depending on the books heading hierarchy)

and you can do away with all the other tags.

The code looks more like they are a subtitle which I generally do not use header tags for since it makes the ToC a mess. My preference is to add the chapter number and subtitle to a title="CN: Subtitle" in the header.

I'm not sure what they are doing with the unterminated <a name="..."> though that may be an attempt to use them in the ToC generation. Hard to say without seeing the full ePub.

soniya · 05-20-2024, 05:06 AM

Hey hi, review the HTML code to check compliance with EPUB specification. Replace class with permitted attributes like dir, lang, version, or xml:lang as needed. Validate the HTML code against the EPUB standard to resolve the parsing error.

JSWolf · 05-20-2024, 11:25 AM

Do you actually need <a id="TCOOS">? If it's an ID in the Toc, dump it. You don't need it Just have the ToC link to the filename without the ID. There is no need for an ID at the top of the HTML file if it's just for an ID for the ToC.

mdpeterson42 · 05-20-2024, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you actually need <a id="TCOOS">? If it's an ID in the Toc, dump it. You don't need it Just have the ToC link to the filename without the ID. There is no need for an ID at the top of the HTML file if it's just for an ID for the ToC.

I actually do need it, because I link to it from three different places in the book besides the TOC. So that's how I tell the links where to point. The crazy thing is that the epub actually works correctly (all the links get me to the right place throughout when using my Kindle or Google Books apps), but the error checker still flags it.

Doitsu · 05-20-2024, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdpeterson42

<a name="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</P>

In calibre, it changed that to:

<a id="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p>

The <a> tag is missing the closing </a> tag. It also needs to be inside <p></p> or another block level tag.

Try this:

<p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16"><a id="TCOOS"></a>THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p>

mdpeterson42 · 05-20-2024, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doitsu

The <a> tag is missing the closing </a> tag. It also needs to be inside <p></p> or another block level tag.

Try this:

<p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16"><a id="TCOOS"></a>THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p>

That worked, thank you!

05-19-2024, 01:25 PM	#1
mdpeterson42 Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2024 Device: Kindle	epubcheck Error Hi all, I am trying to publish my first book. I wrote it in HTML and converted it to epub using Calibre. On the Google Play Store, I received the following error on about half of my splits and I have no idea how to address them: Error while parsing file: attribute "class" not allowed here; expected attribute "dir", "lang", "version" or "xml:lang" Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
EpubCheck Error	gstock97	Editor	7	07-23-2021 08:58 AM
EPUBCheck error	gsosigil	Sigil	3	03-21-2021 06:24 PM
Epubcheck misses error	exaltedwombat	Sigil	12	09-24-2019 04:02 PM
Error epubcheck	Buble	ePub	43	08-15-2014 01:53 AM
Error on epubcheck	Brazz	ePub	5	09-01-2011 03:17 AM

05-19-2024, 01:46 PM	#3
mdpeterson42 Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2024 Device: Kindle	Here is the code for the entire first split: <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="calibre"> <head> <title>Unknown</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="page_styles.css"/> </head> <body class="calibre1"> <p class="halftitle" id="calibre_toc_1">THE ULTIMATE H.P. LOVECRAFT</p> <div class="calibre2" id="calibre_pb_1"></div> </body></html>

05-19-2024, 01:58 PM	#4
Doitsu Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,605 Karma: 23165369 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle PW2	Delete the part marked in red. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="calibre">

05-19-2024, 02:20 PM	#6
mdpeterson42 Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2024 Device: Kindle	Thank you both so much!

05-19-2024, 11:54 PM	#7
mdpeterson42 Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2024 Device: Kindle	OK, so my new issue is the following error: Error while parsing file: element "a" not allowed here; expected element "address", "blockquote", "del", "div", "dl", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "hr", "ins", "noscript", "ns:svg", "ol", "p", "pre", "script", "table" or "ul" (with xmlns:ns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg") This is in reference to a line that was a location for a link elsewhere in the book. In the HTML code, I used: <a name="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</P> In calibre, it changed that to: <a id="TCOOS"> <p class="subtitle" id="calibre_toc_16">THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</p> <p class="subsubtitle" id="calibre_toc_17"> I assume I can't just take out "a" but I am not sure what to replace it with. Thank you!

05-20-2024, 01:16 AM	#9
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,161 Karma: 4917718 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	They look like headings. Why not use the correct heading tags? <h2>THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE</h2> (or maybe <h3> depending on the books heading hierarchy) and you can do away with all the other tags.

05-20-2024, 05:06 AM	#11
soniya Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2024 Location: India Device: none	Hey hi, review the HTML code to check compliance with EPUB specification. Replace class with permitted attributes like dir, lang, version, or xml:lang as needed. Validate the HTML code against the EPUB standard to resolve the parsing error.

05-20-2024, 11:25 AM	#12
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,552 Karma: 129670952 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Do you actually need <a id="TCOOS">? If it's an ID in the Toc, dump it. You don't need it Just have the ToC link to the filename without the ID. There is no need for an ID at the top of the HTML file if it's just for an ID for the ToC.