Link Checker is written entirely in the Java(TM) programming language. Link Checker is an excellent utility for checking Web sites and HTML documents for broken links. Link Checker checks internal and external links, builds a tree of parsed HTML files and tables of found links in explorer-style interface, creates checking reports (in HTML format). You can correct broken links using internal editor. Link Checker gives you many options to specify which files, links and protocols you want to check. Link Checker supports "http", "ftp", "file" and "https" protocols; supports proxy servers.
First you should unzip Link Checker's archive (with subdirectories) to any folder.
If you are going to check links with "https" protocol, you should download Java Secure Socket Extension (http://java.sun.com/products/jsse/) and copy the JSSE jar files (jsse.jar, jcert.jar and jnet.jar) in <java-home>/lib/ext directory.
To run Link Checker without diagnostic messages enter:
javaw -jar LinkChecker.jar
(on Win32 you can run Start.bat).
To run Link Checker with diagnostic messages (console window) enter:
java -jar LinkChecker.jar
(on Win32 you can run Start_diag.bat).
After you have Link Checker unpacked and run for the very first time, you need to perform five simple steps to enjoy link checking.
1. Setup Proxy Server
For the very first time you run Link Checker, you should setup proxy server parameters. It is required if your browser is usually connecting through proxy. If you are not sure about the proxy server or its settings, please consult your network administrator.
2. Creating a new Project for checking
The Project defines from which web page the check should start and how many pages Link Checker should check for you. Create a new Project using File | New | Project menu or pop-up menu on "Projects" tree or toolbar button. Enter the URL you want to check or select the local HTML file. You can also adjust many other properties (each property has a ToolTip). You will see the new Project will be created.
3. Checking
To start checking left-click your mouse on the "Start" button. The green arrow on the Project icon will indicate that the check is going on. When Link Checker finish checking the Project, the green arrow will disappear.
4. Viewing results
To view the results left-click your mouse at the checked file / URL in the Project's map tree. A table with links found in the file will appear in the Links tab. You can find next / previous errors in the table.
5. Editing HTML files
You can edit local HTML files using Internal or External editors. You can also find next / previous errors in the Internal editor (Editor tab).
To change Link Checker Options, select Edit | Options... menu or toolbar button. There are three tabs: "HTTP Proxy", "FTP Proxy" and "Advanced".
Tabs HTTP Proxy and FTP Proxy are used for http (https) and ftp protocols respectively. If your computer is behind a firewall or is located inside of an Intranet, you probably have a proxy server to access Internet servers. Currently, Link Checker supports HTTP and SOCKS type proxies. If you are not sure which kind of proxy server you have, you may start your favorite Web browser and look at it's settings. To set up proxy settings you should know the address of your proxy server and port on which it is listening for requests. You may also need a user name and password to access some HTTP proxy servers. If you are not sure about proxy server parameters, you should consult with your network administrator.
On Advanced tab you can edit fully-qualified path where project files will be stored. A Project is a file with ".prj" extension. You can use folders to organize your Projects. You can also change root projects' folder in Projects field.
It is not necessary that the "Projects" directory should exist. Link Checker will create all required directories itself. Just make sure that the disk is not read-only.
You also can specify command to start your favorite External HTML editor (with fully-qualified path) on "Advanced" tab.
For Internal editor you can specify whether to automatically open HTML file while navigate through broken links.
The Project defines from which web page / HTML file the check should start and how many pages Link Checker should check for you. Create a new Project using File | New | Project menu or pop-up menu on "Projects" tree or toolbar button. Enter the URL or select the file you want to check. You can also adjust many other properties (each property has a ToolTip). There are two tabs:
In Project Name field enter the Project file name (without extension) as it will appear in the Projects tree.
In Address field enter URL or file which Link Checker starts checking from. For a local file you would better select file using "Select file..." button.
Currently Link Checker supports four URL types:
Please do not forget to supply "http://", "https://" or "ftp://" prefix when entering a URL.
For checking local files you can fill Index file field with the name of default directory index file (e.g. index.html or default.asp). It is necessary if you have links to directories, or else you will get a directory contents instead.
Note: Create a Project for the local copy of your site first and check it. You can correct broken links in local files using Internal (or External) editor. Then create a Project for Internet site and check it (Web servers process directory index files, include directives and so on, therefore there may be differences between local and Internet copies of the same site).
"Parsing filter" group contains 3 radio buttons:
Note: In all of the above, only files that can be accessed by following links from the specified starting URL (file) will be analyzed, recursed and validated. Link Checker will not find files that have not been used or linked to somewhere within the site.
URL filters allow you easily shape Project checks by setting which links could be checked and which should be skipped.
Protocol - restrict checking by protocol (http://www.server.com/dir1/dir2/file.htm):
Server - restrict checking by server name (http://www.server.com/dir1/dir2/file.htm):
Note: If a Project is local (file protocol) and you want to check global (http, https or ftp) links, select "Check links to all servers" button (as local "server name" is usually empty).
Checking a Project means that Link Checker starts parsing files from Intranet / Internet and check links according to the settings described in the Project Properties. To start checking a Project, you should first select the desired Project you want to check. Then you can choose Check | Start from main or pop-up menu or press "Start" button.
When check has been started, Link Checker begins parse files located under the Project URL. Every link in the file is checked against URL Filters limits. Since Link Checker can parse only a limited number of files at one time, many files are placed in the Queue and wait for the check. The Status bar will display number of processed (checked) files and how many files are still waiting in Queue for the Projects. When all files are checked and no files are left in Project Queue, the Project check is completed.
When a Project is checking you will see a small green forward-arrow added to the Project icon. When check is completed, the Project icon is returned to its normal state.
You can Suspend checking the selected Project. When suspending, Link Checker will not break the connections immediately. Instead, it will wait until every currently checking file has been checked (queue = 0), so there may be a pause before the Project is suspended.
Then you can Resume checking at any time.
You also can re-check on-line broken links - it is useful if some Web server is temporarily down. Files of the Project will not be re-parsed, only on-line broken links will be re-checked.
While checking a Project you will see a small green forward-arrow added to the Project icon. When check is complete, the Project icon is returned to its normal state.
To view the results click your mouse at the checked file / URL in the Project's map tree. A table with links found in the file will appear in the Links tab. This table contains all links found in the file in the order as links appear in the file. The table has five columns: "Tag", "Attribute", "Value", "Absolute URL" and "Status". You can find next / previous errors in the table.
If you click at the top line of the Project's map tree (a ToolTip shows Project's name), you will see a table with two columns: "Absolute URL" and "Status". This table contains sorted set of all links found in the Project. You can find next / previous errors in the table.
You can create and open checking reports (in HTML format) from menu Check:
You can open local HTML file in Internal or External editor.
Right-click your mouse at the checked file in the Project's map and select Open Internal or Open External (to use External editor first specify it - Link Checker Options).
In Internal editor you can also find next / previous errors or find text. You can specify whether to automatically open HTML file while navigate through broken links (Link Checker Options). Internal editor also supports standard Edit functions: Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste.
Note: If you changed some HTML files, you have to start checking again to update link tables.
For working with Projects tree you can use the next items from menu File:
and from menu Edit:
Note: Items in menu Edit are also available for Internal editor. For editing text fields (in Options and Properties dialogs) use pop-up menu and keystroke combinations.
You can create and open checking reports (View the Results when Check is Finished).
From menu Find you can find files and broken links both in Projects and Project's map trees:
For working with Project's map tree you can use the next items from menu File:
In unregistered version of Link Checker you can't check (parse) more than 7 files.
How to buy Link Checker is described at our web sites.
In several days after payment you will receive your registration key. Then select Help | About in the Link Checker main menu. Next, click on the Registration tab and enter your user name and registration key and press OK. Registration is valid for all further versions.
You can obtain Technical Support by sending e-mail to ugoltsev@yahoo.com
When requesting support, please remember to state which Java platform you are using.
Although we have worked hard to make sure that Link Checker is as bug free as possible, no software is perfect. As a result, if you do find a bug, please let us know. There may be other people that are having the same problem and it won't be fixed unless we know about it.
New versions of Link Checker are released when new features are suggested, or a bug is found. New releases can always be found on our web site at http://www.oocities.org/ugoltsev/
Copyright (c) 2000 AdaSoft CIT, Kostroma, Russia: adasoft@kmtn.ru http://www.softexe.com
Author Pavel Ugoltsev: ugoltsev@yahoo.com http://www.oocities.org/ugoltsev/
Anchors (#ref) are not checked in this version. To check an anchor it is necessary to load / parse the whole HTML file. Checking anchors inside a project will be implemented in next versions.
Link Checker supports "https" protocol (Getting Started).
Internal editor highlights HTML syntax.
Technology of parsing HTML files is essentially improved. You will not get "Parser error" status even if your HTML page contains some eccentric stuff like pop-up advertisement. Support for two more tags added. Here is the table of all supported tags with URL attributes:
|
HTML Tag |
Attributes |
|
Base |
href |
|
A |
href, name |
|
Body |
background |
|
Link |
href |
|
Img |
src |
|
Area |
href |
|
Frame |
src |
|
Form |
action |
|
Input |
src |
|
Script |
src |
|
Applet |
codebase, code, archive |
|
Object |
codebase, classid, data, archive |