HTML→YaBB Converter Test Post (Script Validation)
HTML→YaBB Converter Test Post
This post is a deliberate stress-test for a small Python script that converts normal HTML into an old-style
YaBB single-line message format (pipe-delimited header + HTML body + trailing ||).
It includes common formatting traps: blank lines, inline code, lists, a table, and preformatted log text.
Goal: prove that the converter preserves readable structure while enforcing YaBB constraints:
single-line output, safe line breaks, and no accidental field delimiter pipes.
1) Quick spec
- Input: full HTML page or snippet
- Conversion: newlines →
<br />, blank lines →<br /><br /> - Output:
title|author|email|timestamp|admin|xx|0|0|BODY|| - Filename: Unix timestamp (UTC seconds), bumped if needed to avoid collisions
2) Example of “pipes are dangerous”
If the body contains a literal pipe character, YaBB interprets it as a field delimiter and everything explodes quietly.
For this test, the converter should replace pipes with an HTML entity.
For example:
Before: CALLSIGN | BAND | SNR
After: CALLSIGN | BAND | SNR
3) Tiny diagnostics table
| Parameter | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| timestamp | auto | UTC epoch seconds |
| line breaks | <br /> | YaBB-safe |
| blank lines | <br /><br /> | Paragraph spacing |
4) Log snippet
Below is a mock “script run” log block (HTML <pre> tends to be brittle in old boards, so this is intentionally plain):
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] INFO Reading HTML input: test_converter_post.html
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] INFO Extracting <body>…</body>
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] INFO Normalising newlines → <br />
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] INFO Escaping pipes → |
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] INFO Writing YaBB post: 1768xxxxxx.txt
[2026-01-19 22:14:03Z] OK Post created without clobbering existing IDs
5) “Figure” style image test
This last block tests YaBB’s image embedding and caption styling. Replace the URL with any known-good image on your server.
Figure 1 (Aurora over Boscastle Harbour 20 Jan 2026) – Placeholder image for verifying YaBB [img] embedding and caption rendering from converted HTML.
End of test post.
For completeness, the local scripts used to generate this entry (including the yabbify wrapper and HTML→YaBB converter) are documented here:
HTML→YaBB conversion scripts (README)|