Transform HTML - Insert HTML after tag - does not insert immediately after tag

[LenaWolf]

Hi,

I want to insert a short HTML snippet after every <br/> tag, but I want it to be immediately after the tag. However, when I specify the rule "Insert HTML after tag", the snippet is inserted before the next tag instead of immediately after <br/>. How can I fix it, please?

Now in more detail. I have the following HTML:

<p class="P-P500 c_odt5">
<span class="S-Drop_20_Caps">I </span>never... blablabla more text. <br/>
"I told you - blablabla more text.</p>

I would like to have the following snippet inserted immediately after <br/>:

<span class="drop_caps_tab"/>

So I click Convert books -> Look and Feel -> Transform HTML, and there I add a new rule: if tag is br, insert HTML after tag, and I type in the above HTML for <span>. Then I run the conversion.

I have several places in the document where this rule applies, and the results vary quite a bit, but my <span> code is never inserted immediately after <br/> but instead it is inserted immediately before the next tag or before the closing of the wrapper tag, which is not what I want. Here are some examples of what I get as a result:

<p class="p-body_20_text_20_first_20_paragraph">
<span class="s-drop_20_caps">I </span>never... blablabla <br class="calibre2"/>
"I told you...blablabla <span class="drop_caps_tab"></span></p>

(In this case my <span> was inserted before the closing tag </p>.)

<p class="p-body_20_text_20_first_20_paragraph">
<span class="s-drop_20_caps">F</span>inally!" Agatha...text. <br class="calibre2"/>
"<span class="drop_caps_tab"></span><span class="calibre">I was</span>n't worried,"...blablabla</p>

(In this case, my <span> was inserted before the next <span> element that was in the code already.)

My question is then: how to make my snippet be inserted immediately after <br/>? I want the following result:

<br/><span class="drop_caps_tab"/>

I don't want anything in between, and certainly none of my text. I already tried all other options in the rules but still cannot get it to work. I can get tags inserted before <br/> but not after.

[Ghostcat]

Personally, I would not use Transfer HTML for this; I would use Search and Replace.

Search for <br/> and replace with <br/><span class="drop_caps_tab"/>.

That said you appear to be missing the closing </span> tag. This would make the search slightly more complicated as you would need account for the closing tag in your search. So for the example given, I suggest:

Search for <br/>\n("?[A-Z]) and replace with <br/><span class="drop_caps_tab"/>\n\1</span>.

[Karellen]

Yes, I also would use a Search and Replace in the Editor, rather than fiddling with a conversion rule.

[LenaWolf]

Originally Posted by Ghostcat

Personally, I would not use Transfer HTML for this; I would use Search and Replace.

Search for <br/> and replace with <br/><span class="drop_caps_tab"/>.

That said you appear to be missing the closing </span> tag. This would make the search slightly more complicated as you would need account for the closing tag in your search. So for the example given, I suggest:

Search for <br/>\n("?[A-Z]) and replace with <br/><span class="drop_caps_tab"/>\n\1</span>.

Thank you so much - Search and Replace worked perfectly!

I am not missing the closing tag, these are both self-closing tags because they have /> in the end. I actually want an empty <span/> tag inserted because of the properties that it brings - it is simulating a tab through padding like so:

.drop_caps_tab {
padding-left: 0.6cm;
}

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by LenaWolf

Thank you so much - Search and Replace worked perfectly!

I am not missing the closing tag, these are both self-closing tags because they have /> in the end. I actually want an empty <span/> tag inserted because of the properties that it brings - it is simulating a tab through padding like so:

.drop_caps_tab {
padding-left: 0.6cm;
}

Better done by a class on the <p

[LenaWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Better done by a class on the <p

No, that doesn't work on a <p>. I want the line after a line break to be indented, rather than the first line of the paragraph.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by LenaWolf

No, that doesn't work on a <p>. I want the line after a line break to be indented, rather than the first line of the paragraph.

A class to indent can be added to ANY tag.

There normally should be zero <br /> in body. Vertical spacing should be by class.

The only case I know that needs a <br /> is to break a title/heading onto two lines so automatic ToC generation sees it as one entry. Otherwise it's an obsolete throw back to before styles or classes.

A <br /> is like typing enter twice in the source. I search and delete blank lines, leading spaces, trailing spaces and tabs. I replace all spaces more than one with one.

Any <br /> in body text can he replace by single Search & Replace of
</p>
<p class="whatever">

Where css of whatever defines a top margin and desired indent, left, right etc.

[LenaWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There normally should be zero <br /> in body. Vertical spacing should be by class.

It just depends on your source. My source is used to create several different formats, and in PDF this is where I use real drop caps which I replace by a layout with the first character being double the size in ePUB, without dropping it. I tried using floats, but it doesn't render reliably. So the line break is an artefact from a work-around from PDF where you have to combine several short paragraphs together in order to have your drop cap display in full size, such as over 4 lines instead of only 2. This combined paragraph then has a line break and a tab, and I wrap the tab into a character style which is translated into a padded style for ePub so that it looks just like a normal indent (I use indented text in regular paragraphs). That is to say, I no longer insert an indent after every line break, but instead I use character styling on the tab. And yes, I know, the tab disappears in ePUB, and that's fine, but the styling remains.

So my line breaks are not used to achieve vertical spacing at all but to make a work-around for full-sized drop caps in PDF which then needs to be smoothed over in ePUB. But I've got it figured out!