Netscape Bookmark File Format Converter

This is an independent, promise-based tool used for converting between Netscape Bookmark File Format and JSON.

Table of Contents

• Features
  • Conversion options
  • Configurability
• Setup
  • Install
  • Import
• Usage
  • Default created/expected JSON node property names
  • Create a converter
  • Convert
    • NBFF to JSON
    • JSON to NBFF
  • Get NBFF header
  • Exception throwing
• Examples
  • Using the default NBFFjsonModel
  • Using a custom NBFFjsonModel
• Project Status
• Room for Improvement
• Contact
• License

Features

Conversion options

• NBFF (subfolder and shortcut item) --> JSON node (by default sorted into a JSON tree)
• JSON tree --> NBFF (subfolder and shortcut item)

Configurability

• Change created/expected JSON node property names
• Pass a custom JSON node processing midFunction

Setup

Install

npm install nbff-converter

Import

const NBFFConverter = require('nbff-converter')

Usage

Default created/expected JSON node property names

#NBFFjsonModel = {
	CHILDREN: 'children',
	INNER_TEXT: 'title',
	HREF: 'url',
	ADD_DATE: 'dateAdded',
	LAST_VISIT: 'dateLastVisited',
	LAST_MODIFIED: 'dateModified',
	PERSONAL_TOOLBAR_FOLDER: 'personalToolbarFolder',
}

Create a converter

const nbffConverter = new NBFFConverter(yourNBFFjsonModel?)

Convert

• NBFF to JSON

nbffConverter.netscapeToJSON(nbffString, midFunction?)
	.then((result) => console.log(result))

The midFunction parameter looks like:

(node: NBFFjsonModelNode) => void | any | Promise

Tip: When passing a method as midFunction, you can bind its this.

The values inside the Promise look like:

{ level: Number, id: Number, numOfNodes: Number, [NBFFjsonModel.CHILDREN]: Array }

• JSON to NBFF

nbffConverter.jsonToNetscape(jsonTree, header?, tabSpaces?)
	.then((result) => console.log(result))

The values inside the Promise look like:

{ nbffStr: String, numOfNodes: Number }

Get NBFF header

let nbffHeader = nbffConverter.header

Result:

<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!--This is an automatically generated file.
	It will be read and overwritten.
	Do Not Edit! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<Title>Bookmarks</Title>
<H1>Bookmarks</H1>

Exception throwing

TypeError | ReferenceError | RangeError

Examples

Using the default NBFFjsonModel

dummy.html

<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!--This is an automatically generated file.
	It will be read and overwritten.
	Do Not Edit! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<Title>Bookmarks</Title>
<H1>Bookmarks</H1>
<DL><p>
    <DT><H3>dummy folder 1</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.dne">Does not exist</A>
        <DT><H3>dummy folder 2</H3>
        <DL><p>
            <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.idne">It does not exist</A>
        </DL><p>
    </DL><p>
    <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.sdne">Still does not exist</A>
    <DT><H3>dummy folder 3</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.nidne">No, it does not exist</A>
    </DL><p>
</DL><p>

convert-to-json.js

const fs = require('fs')
const NBFFConverter = require('nbff-converter')

const nbffString = fs.readFileSync('./dummy.html', 'utf8')
const nbffConverterDefault = new NBFFConverter()

nbffConverterDefault.netscapeToJSON(nbffString).then((result) => {
	fs.writeFileSync('result.json', JSON.stringify(result, null, 4))
})

// Simple midFunction example:
const myMidFunction = (node) => node.title

nbffConverterDefault.netscapeToJSON(nbffString, myMidFunction).then((result) => {
	fs.writeFileSync('myMidFunctionResult.json', JSON.stringify(result, null, 4))
})

result.json

{
    "level": 0,
    "id": 0,
    "numOfNodes": 7,
    "children": [
        {
            "level": 1,
            "id": 1,
            "type": "folder",
            "title": "dummy folder 1",
            "children": [
                {
                    "level": 2,
                    "id": 2,
                    "type": "url",
                    "url": "http://dummyURL.dne",
                    "title": "Does not exist"
                },
                {
                    "level": 2,
                    "id": 3,
                    "type": "folder",
                    "title": "dummy folder 2",
                    "children": [
                        {
                            "level": 3,
                            "id": 4,
                            "type": "url",
                            "url": "http://dummyURL.idne",
                            "title": "It does not exist"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "level": 1,
            "id": 5,
            "type": "url",
            "url": "http://dummyURL.sdne",
            "title": "Still does not exist"
        },
        {
            "level": 1,
            "id": 6,
            "type": "folder",
            "title": "dummy folder 3",
            "children": [
                {
                    "level": 2,
                    "id": 7,
                    "type": "url",
                    "url": "http://dummyURL.nidne",
                    "title": "No, it does not exist"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

myMidFunctionResult.json

{
    "level": 0,
    "id": 0,
    "numOfNodes": 7,
    "children": [
        "dummy folder 1",
        "Does not exist",
        "dummy folder 2",
        "It does not exist",
        "Still does not exist",
        "dummy folder 3",
        "No, it does not exist"
    ]
}

Using a custom NBFFjsonModel

dummy.json

{
    "contents": [
        {
            "name": "dummy folder 1",
            "contents": [
                { "shortcut": "http://dummyURL.dne", "name": "Does not exist" },
                {
                    "name": "dummy folder 2",
                    "contents": [
                        { "shortcut": "http://dummyURL.idne", "name": "It does not exist" }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        { "shortcut": "http://dummyURL.sdne", "name": "Still does not exist" },
        {
            "name": "dummy folder 3",
            "contents": [
                { "shortcut": "http://dummyURL.nidne", "name": "No, it does not exist" }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

convert-to-nbff.js

const fs = require('fs')
const NBFFConverter = require('nbff-converter')

const jsonString = fs.readFileSync('./dummy.json', 'utf8')
const jsonData = JSON.parse(jsonString)

const myCustomModel = { CHILDREN: 'contents', INNER_TEXT: 'name', HREF: 'shortcut' }
const nbffConverterCustom = new NBFFConverter(myCustomModel)

nbffConverterCustom.jsonToNetscape(jsonData, true, 4).then((result) => {
	fs.writeFileSync('result.html', result.nbffStr)
})

result.html

<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
<!--This is an automatically generated file.
	It will be read and overwritten.
	Do Not Edit! -->
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<Title>Bookmarks</Title>
<H1>Bookmarks</H1>
<DL><p>
    <DT><H3>dummy folder 1</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.dne">Does not exist</A>
        <DT><H3>dummy folder 2</H3>
        <DL><p>
            <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.idne">It does not exist</A>
        </DL><p>
    </DL><p>
    <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.sdne">Still does not exist</A>
    <DT><H3>dummy folder 3</H3>
    <DL><p>
        <DT><A HREF="http://dummyURL.nidne">No, it does not exist</A>
    </DL><p>
</DL><p>

Project Status

Project is: in progress

Room for Improvement

• Support for other NBFF items?
• Completely customizable item attribute names?

To do:

• Other possible subfolder/shortcut attributes

Contact

Created by @kishtra - feel free to contact me!

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.