Before you begin
- Python 3.12 or newer
Set up your example
- Save the complete code as html-button-types.py in a working folder.
- Save the provided sample files in that same folder; run commands from that folder.
Sample files in this download:
- sample.html
- style.css
Download the ZIP, extract it, and open a terminal inside the extracted folder. The source file is html-button-types.py.
Run the script
python "html-button-types.py" --input "sample.html" --output "button-types.json"If your system uses python3 instead of python, use that command for Python examples. Keep paths containing spaces in quotes. Required inputs and optional settings are described in the code and setup steps.
What to expect
Find form-associated buttons with missing or unrecognized type values. Continue is a candidate for implicit submission because its type is absent.
The complete script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
'Inspect button types in form context'
import argparse
import json
from pathlib import Path
def write_json(path, value):
data = json.dumps(value, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False, allow_nan=False) + "\n"
with Path(path).open("x", encoding="utf-8", newline="") as handle:
handle.write(data)
from html.parser import HTMLParser
import re
import math
import urllib.parse
from collections import Counter, defaultdict
VOID={"area","base","br","col","embed","hr","img","input","link","meta","param","source","track","wbr"}
class Document(HTMLParser):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__(convert_charrefs=True)
self.nodes=[{"tag":"#document","attrs":{},"line":1,"parent":None,"content":[]}]
self.stack=[0]
self.comments=[]
def handle_starttag(self,tag,attrs):
if len(self.nodes)>=50000 or len(self.stack)>=256: raise ValueError("HTML node/depth limit exceeded.")
index=len(self.nodes)
self.nodes.append({"tag":tag,"attrs":dict(attrs),"line":self.getpos()[0],"parent":self.stack[-1],"content":[]})
self.nodes[self.stack[-1]]["content"].append(index)
if tag not in VOID: self.stack.append(index)
def handle_startendtag(self,tag,attrs):
self.handle_starttag(tag,attrs)
if tag not in VOID: self.stack.pop()
def handle_endtag(self,tag):
for pos in range(len(self.stack)-1,0,-1):
if self.nodes[self.stack[pos]]["tag"]==tag:
del self.stack[pos:]
break
def handle_data(self,data):
self.nodes[self.stack[-1]]["content"].append(data)
def handle_comment(self,data):
self.comments.append({"line":self.getpos()[0],"comment":data})
def read_document(path):
if Path(path).stat().st_size>5*1024*1024: raise ValueError("HTML input exceeds 5 MiB.")
doc=Document()
doc.feed(Path(path).read_text(encoding="utf-8-sig"))
doc.close()
return doc
def text(doc,index=0,skip=frozenset({"script","style","template"})):
node=doc.nodes[index]
if node["tag"] in skip: return ""
return " ".join(text(doc,p,skip) if isinstance(p,int) else p for p in node["content"])
def clean(value):
return " ".join(value.split())
def selected(doc,tags):
return [(i,n) for i,n in enumerate(doc.nodes) if n["tag"] in tags]
def ancestor(doc,index,tag):
parent=doc.nodes[index]["parent"]
while parent is not None:
if doc.nodes[parent]["tag"]==tag: return parent
parent=doc.nodes[parent]["parent"]
return None
def visible_text(doc):
bodies=selected(doc,{"body"})
return clean(text(doc,bodies[0][0] if bodies else 0, frozenset({"head","script","style","template"})))
def resources(doc):
result=[]
for i,n in enumerate(doc.nodes):
attrs=n["attrs"]
if n["tag"] in {"img","script","iframe","audio","video","source","track","embed","input"} and attrs.get("src"):
result.append({"tag":n["tag"],"attribute":"src","url":attrs["src"],"line":n["line"]})
if n["tag"]=="link" and "stylesheet" in (attrs.get("rel") or "").lower().split() and attrs.get("href"):
result.append({"tag":"link","attribute":"href","url":attrs["href"],"line":n["line"]})
if n["tag"]=="video" and attrs.get("poster"):
result.append({"tag":"video","attribute":"poster","url":attrs["poster"],"line":n["line"]})
return result
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Inspect button types in form context')
parser.add_argument("--input",required=True,help="Local UTF-8 HTML file")
parser.add_argument("--output",required=True,help="New result path")
args = parser.parse_args()
doc=read_document(args.input)
result=[]
for i,n in selected(doc,{"button"}):
value=(n["attrs"].get("type") or "").lower()
in_form=ancestor(doc,i,"form") is not None or bool(n["attrs"].get("form"))
result.append({"line":n["line"],"text":clean(text(doc,i)),"declared_type":value or None,"in_form_context":in_form,"implicit_or_invalid_submit_candidate":in_form and value not in {"button","reset","submit"}})
write_json(args.output,result)
if __name__ == "__main__":
try:
main()
except (OSError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError, ArithmeticError, IndexError, LookupError) as exc:
raise SystemExit(str(exc))
Open source as plain text · Download source and sample files
How it works
- The script parses only a saved local HTML file; scripts, styles, and external resources are never executed or fetched.
- Nearest form ancestry or a form attribute establishes source-level context; actual external form association is not validated.
- Continue is a candidate for implicit submission because its type is absent.
Make it your own
--input
Inspect a page containing mixed action and submit buttons.
Adapt the processing
Edit main to verify external form IDs when the form attribute is present.
Change one setting at a time, run it again on sample data, and compare the output. The customization guide walks through this process.
If something goes wrong
A non-submitting action is flagged.
Add an explicit type=button in the page after confirming the intended behavior.
The destination already exists.
Choose a new --output path. The script deliberately refuses to replace an existing result.
Reference & next steps
These official references explain the underlying tools. The Scriptage example and guide are original instructional content. See verification notes for what has been checked and the limits of those checks.
Copies a template for your own notes. It does not send anything.