#ExCSS StyleSheet Parser for .NET - It's #BADA55!#

ExCSS (Pronoundec Excess) is a CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 parser for .NET.

The goal of ExCSS is to make it easy to read and parse stylesheets into a friendly object model with full LINQ support.

#Original Work# ExCSS is based on the original work by Scott Green, and is used with his expressed permission http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/20450/Simple-CSS-Parser?msg=4179839#xx4179839xx

#NuGet# Install the pagckage from the NuGet Package Manager or via command line

Install-Package ExCSS 

#Lexing and Parsing - How it all Wors# ExCSS builds a Scanner (a.k.a. a Lexer) and a Parser based on a CSS3-specific grammar. The Scanner and Parser are generated using Coco/r, and generate .NET code required to parse any common stylesheet. Once parsed, the input styles sheet is turned into a sandard .NET object model. That means it's fully queryable using Linq to objects.

##A basic example:##

var parser = StylesheetParser();
var stylesheet = parser.Parse(".someClass{color: red; background-image: url('/images/logo.png')");

var imageUrl = var image = parsed.RuleSets
            .SelectMany(r => r.Declarations)
            .SelectMany(d => d.Expression.Terms)
            .Where(t => t.Type == TermType.Url)
            .First(); // Finds the '/images/logo.png' image

##CSS 3 Compatible## The project has a growing suite of tests. Currently the tests account for and pass all CSS Level 3 selector definitions found in the W3 CSS 3 Release Candidate documentation

Take a look at the currently tested selectors: https://github.com/TylerBrinks/ExCSS/wiki/CSS-3-Selector-Test-Status

Please consider helping this project out by helping our test list grow to match any valid CSS selector we're missing.

##Advanced Stuff## ExCSS uses Coco/r to build a Lexer and Parser based on a CSS3 compatible grammar.
The grammar defines valid CSS3 directives, selectors, rules, attributes, elements, and types that make up the body ofa style sheet.

Coco/r is responsible for translating the grammar into usable C#. The grammar is a living document; the goal of this project is to keep it up to date wtih the CSS Level 3 specifications as they evolve.

The grammar is an Attributed Grammar (ATG) based on an Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). That means the output parser allows for injecting C# coding conventions. In the case of ExCSS, that means an entire object model can be constructed from simple and isolated grammar-based rules.

Take a look at the css.v3.02.1.atg file for the full grammar