Validator S.A.C.

Daily unique usage based on Sparkle update queries and plotted with Sparklines.

Validator S.A.C. (Stand Alone Complex) is a stand-alone, easy to install, version of the W3C's HTML / XHTML Markup Validator for Mac OS X. Validator S.A.C. is a normal Mac OS X application. No installation is required, just put Validator S.A.C. where you need it (hard drive, flash drive, CD-R, etc).

Validator S.A.C. can validate local files, as well as pages on local web sites. Validate using the stand-alone Favelet, drag and drop files and URLs onto the application icon, or simply use File > Open.

Validator S.A.C. can also be setup as a Web Service, allowing users to validate over the local network. See the Advanced Topics section for details.

The W3 Markup Validator is developed and maintained by the Quality Assurance Activity at W3C. Validator S.A.C. is developed by Chuck Houpt of Homo Habilis Associates. Please send bug reports and comments to chuck@habilis.net

Download

Validator-SAC_0.6.2.dmg (9.1 MiB, Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, Universal Binary)

Screen Shot

Version History

0.6.2
- Fixed blocking/freezing on 10.5 by improving I/O pipe handling.
- Updated project to build under 10.5.
0.6.1
- Fixed error message when validating with user-selected DOCTYPE.
- Re-fixed defaults to allow web service to validate local/private IP addresses.
- Fixed auto-updating, so future releases will correctly update.
0.6.0
- Updated to Validator 0.8.2
- Added automatic updating using the Sparkle framework.
- Adjusted app naming so AppDNA self-compilation works correct.
- Changed defaults to allow web service to validate local/private IP addresses.
0.5.3
- Fixed stalls (spinning forever) under Intel Safari 2 WebKit.
- Fixed validating when Application has colon (Finder slash) in path.
0.5.2
- Corrected handling of XHTML, SVG, MathML, SMIL and XML files.
- Improved error handling to help track down stalling problems.
- Fixed wrapper scripts to avoid conflict with Fink/MacPorts Perl.
0.5.0
- Updated to W3C Validator 0.8.1

Advanced Topics

Using Validator S.A.C. as a Web Service

Because the Validator S.A.C. application contains a complete working version of the W3C Validator, it can be used to setup the Validator as a web service on a Mac.

Validator S.A.C. comes with a sample Apache configuration file, which assumes Validator S.A.C. is located in the Application folder. To install the configuration file, place it in Apache's auto-include directory, such as /etc/httpd/users (or /etc/httpd/sites on Mac OS X Server). After restarting Apache, the service will be live. Here is how to install the configuration file and restart Apache using a Terminal shell:

10.5

% cd /Applications/Validator-SAC.app/Contents/Resources
% sudo cp validator/httpd/conf/validator-SAC-10.5.conf /etc/apache2/other
% sudo apachectl graceful

10.4

% cd /Applications/Validator-SAC.app/Contents/Resources
% sudo cp validator/httpd/conf/validator-SAC-10.4.conf /etc/httpd/users
% sudo apachectl graceful

Now you should be able to access the Validator web service at http://localhost/w3c-validator/. The configuration file also registers the service with Bonjour (Rendezvous), so anyone on your local network can access the service from a Bonjour enabled browser (for example, Safari's Bonjour bookmark menu).

Source Code

Validator S.A.C. uses the AppDNA system to bundle the source code inside the application. Every copy of Validator S.A.C. is capable of recompiling itself. To examine the source code, select "Show Source Code" from the Help menu, and the internal XCode project will open.