org.jdom
Class Element

java.lang.Object
  org.jdom.Content
      org.jdom.Element

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.io.Serializable, java.lang.Cloneable, Parent

public class Element
extends Content
implements Parent

An XML element. Methods allow the user to get and manipulate its child elements and content, directly access the element's textual content, manipulate its attributes, and manage namespaces.

Version:

$Revision: 1.1 $, $Date: 2012/04/08 22:47:59 $

Author:

Brett McLaughlin, Jason Hunter, Lucas Gonze, Kevin Regan, Dan Schaffer, Yusuf Goolamabbas, Kent C. Johnson, Jools Enticknap, Alex Rosen, Bradley S. Huffman, Victor Toni

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

protected java.util.List	additionalNamespaces Additional namespace declarations to store on this element; useful during output
protected java.lang.String	name The local name of the element
protected Namespace	namespace The namespace of the element

Fields inherited from class org.jdom.Content

parent

Constructor Summary

protected	Element() This protected constructor is provided in order to support an Element subclass that wants full control over variable initialization.
	Element(java.lang.String name) Create a new element with the supplied (local) name and no namespace.
	Element(java.lang.String name, Namespace namespace) Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and namespace.
	Element(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String uri) Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and a namespace given by a URI.
	Element(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String prefix, java.lang.String uri) Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and a namespace given by the supplied prefix and URI combination.

Method Summary

Element	addContent(java.util.Collection newContent) Appends all children in the given collection to the end of the content list.
Element	addContent(Content child) Appends the child to the end of the element's content list.
Element	addContent(int index, java.util.Collection newContent) Inserts the content in a collection into the content list at the given index.
Element	addContent(int index, Content child) Inserts the child into the content list at the given index.
Element	addContent(java.lang.String str) This adds text content to this element.
void	addNamespaceDeclaration(Namespace additionalNamespace) Adds a namespace declarations to this element.
java.lang.Object	clone() This returns a deep clone of this element.
java.util.List	cloneContent() Returns a list containing detached clones of this parent's content list.
java.util.List	getAdditionalNamespaces() Returns a list of the additional namespace declarations on this element.
Attribute	getAttribute(java.lang.String name) This returns the attribute for this element with the given name and within no namespace, or null if no such attribute exists.
Attribute	getAttribute(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This returns the attribute for this element with the given name and within the given Namespace, or null if no such attribute exists.
java.util.List	getAttributes() This returns the complete set of attributes for this element, as a List of Attribute objects in no particular order, or an empty list if there are none.
java.lang.String	getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name) This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within no namespace, null if there is no such attribute, and the empty string if the attribute value is empty.
java.lang.String	getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace, null if there is no such attribute, and the empty string if the attribute value is empty.
java.lang.String	getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns, java.lang.String def) This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace, or the passed-in default if there is no such attribute.
java.lang.String	getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String def) This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within no namespace, or the passed-in default if there is no such attribute.
Element	getChild(java.lang.String name) This returns the first child element within this element with the given local name and belonging to no namespace.
Element	getChild(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This returns the first child element within this element with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace.
java.util.List	getChildren() This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element, as Element objects.
java.util.List	getChildren(java.lang.String name) This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element with the given local name and belonging to no namespace, returned as Element objects.
java.util.List	getChildren(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element with the given local name and belonging to the given Namespace, returned as Element objects.
java.lang.String	getChildText(java.lang.String name) Returns the textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.lang.String	getChildText(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) Returns the textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.lang.String	getChildTextNormalize(java.lang.String name) Returns the normalized textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.lang.String	getChildTextNormalize(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) Returns the normalized textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.lang.String	getChildTextTrim(java.lang.String name) Returns the trimmed textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.lang.String	getChildTextTrim(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) Returns the trimmed textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.
java.util.List	getContent() This returns the full content of the element as a List which may contain objects of type Text, Element, Comment, ProcessingInstruction, CDATA, and EntityRef.
java.util.List	getContent(Filter filter) Return a filter view of this Element's content.
Content	getContent(int index) Returns the child at the given index.
int	getContentSize() Returns the number of children in this parent's content list.
java.util.Iterator	getDescendants() Returns an iterator that walks over all descendants in document order.
java.util.Iterator	getDescendants(Filter filter) Returns an iterator that walks over all descendants in document order applying the Filter to return only elements that match the filter rule.
java.lang.String	getName() Returns the (local) name of the element (without any namespace prefix).
Namespace	getNamespace() Returns the element's Namespace.
Namespace	getNamespace(java.lang.String prefix) Returns the Namespace corresponding to the given prefix in scope for this element.
java.lang.String	getNamespacePrefix() Returns the namespace prefix of the element or an empty string if none exists.
java.lang.String	getNamespaceURI() Returns the namespace URI mapped to this element's prefix (or the in-scope default namespace URI if no prefix).
java.lang.String	getQualifiedName() Returns the full name of the element, in the form [namespacePrefix]:[localName].
java.lang.String	getText() Returns the textual content directly held under this element as a string.
java.lang.String	getTextNormalize() Returns the textual content of this element with all surrounding whitespace removed and internal whitespace normalized to a single space.
java.lang.String	getTextTrim() Returns the textual content of this element with all surrounding whitespace removed.
java.lang.String	getValue() Returns the XPath 1.0 string value of this element, which is the complete, ordered content of all text node descendants of this element (i.e. the text that's left after all references are resolved and all other markup is stripped out.)
int	indexOf(Content child) Returns the index of the supplied child in the content list, or -1 if not a child of this parent.
boolean	isAncestor(Element element) Determines if this element is the ancestor of another element.
boolean	isRootElement() Returns whether this element is a root element.
boolean	removeAttribute(Attribute attribute) This removes the supplied Attribute should it exist.
boolean	removeAttribute(java.lang.String name) This removes the attribute with the given name and within no namespace.
boolean	removeAttribute(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This removes the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace.
boolean	removeChild(java.lang.String name) This removes the first child element (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to no namespace.
boolean	removeChild(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This removes the first child element (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace.
boolean	removeChildren(java.lang.String name) This removes all child elements (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to no namespace.
boolean	removeChildren(java.lang.String name, Namespace ns) This removes all child elements (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace.
java.util.List	removeContent() Removes all child content from this parent.
boolean	removeContent(Content child) Removes a single child node from the content list.
java.util.List	removeContent(Filter filter) Remove all child content from this parent matching the supplied filter.
Content	removeContent(int index) Removes and returns the child at the given index, or returns null if there's no such child.
void	removeNamespaceDeclaration(Namespace additionalNamespace) Removes an additional namespace declarations from this element.
Element	setAttribute(Attribute attribute) This sets an attribute value for this element.
Element	setAttribute(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String value) This sets an attribute value for this element.
Element	setAttribute(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String value, Namespace ns) This sets an attribute value for this element.
Element	setAttributes(java.util.Collection newAttributes) This sets the attributes of the element.
Element	setAttributes(java.util.List newAttributes) This sets the attributes of the element.
Element	setContent(java.util.Collection newContent) This sets the content of the element.
Element	setContent(Content child) Set this element's content to be the supplied child.
Parent	setContent(int index, java.util.Collection newContent) Replace the child at the given index whith the supplied collection.
Element	setContent(int index, Content child) Replace the current child the given index with the supplied child.
Element	setName(java.lang.String name) Sets the (local) name of the element.
Element	setNamespace(Namespace namespace) Sets the element's Namespace.
Element	setText(java.lang.String text) Sets the content of the element to be the text given.
java.lang.String	toString() This returns a String representation of the Element, suitable for debugging.

Methods inherited from class org.jdom.Content

detach, equals, getDocument, getParent, getParentElement, hashCode, setParent

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Methods inherited from interface org.jdom.Parent

getDocument, getParent

Field Detail

name

protected java.lang.String name

The local name of the element

namespace

protected transient Namespace namespace

The namespace of the element

additionalNamespaces

protected transient java.util.List additionalNamespaces

Additional namespace declarations to store on this element; useful during output

Constructor Detail

Element

protected Element()

This protected constructor is provided in order to support an Element subclass that wants full control over variable initialization. It intentionally leaves all instance variables null, allowing a lightweight subclass implementation. The subclass is responsible for ensuring all the get and set methods on Element behave as documented.

When implementing an Element subclass which doesn't require full control over variable initialization, be aware that simply calling super() (or letting the compiler add the implicit super() call) will not initialize the instance variables which will cause many of the methods to throw a NullPointerException. Therefore, the constructor for these subclasses should call one of the public constructors so variable initialization is handled automatically.

Element

public Element(java.lang.String name,
               Namespace namespace)

Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and namespace. If the provided namespace is null, the element will have no namespace.

Parameters:

name - local name of the element

namespace - namespace for the element

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an element name

Element

public Element(java.lang.String name)

Create a new element with the supplied (local) name and no namespace.

Parameters:

name - local name of the element

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an element name.

Element

public Element(java.lang.String name,
               java.lang.String uri)

Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and a namespace given by a URI. The element will be put into the unprefixed (default) namespace.

Parameters:

name - name of the element

uri - namespace URI for the element

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an element name or the given URI is illegal as a namespace URI

Element

public Element(java.lang.String name,
               java.lang.String prefix,
               java.lang.String uri)

Creates a new element with the supplied (local) name and a namespace given by the supplied prefix and URI combination.

Parameters:

name - local name of the element

prefix - namespace prefix

uri - namespace URI for the element

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an element name, the given prefix is illegal as a namespace prefix, or the given URI is illegal as a namespace URI

Method Detail

getName

public java.lang.String getName()

Returns the (local) name of the element (without any namespace prefix).

Returns:

local element name

setName

public Element setName(java.lang.String name)

Sets the (local) name of the element.

Parameters:

name - the new (local) name of the element

Returns:

the target element

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an Element name

getNamespace

public Namespace getNamespace()

Returns the element's Namespace.

Returns:

the element's namespace

setNamespace

public Element setNamespace(Namespace namespace)

Sets the element's Namespace. If the provided namespace is null, the element will have no namespace.

Parameters:

namespace - the new namespace

Returns:

the target element

getNamespacePrefix

public java.lang.String getNamespacePrefix()

Returns the namespace prefix of the element or an empty string if none exists.

Returns:

the namespace prefix

getNamespaceURI

public java.lang.String getNamespaceURI()

Returns the namespace URI mapped to this element's prefix (or the in-scope default namespace URI if no prefix). If no mapping is found, an empty string is returned.

Returns:

the namespace URI for this element

getNamespace

public Namespace getNamespace(java.lang.String prefix)

Returns the Namespace corresponding to the given prefix in scope for this element. This involves searching up the tree, so the results depend on the current location of the element. Returns null if there is no namespace in scope with the given prefix at this point in the document.

Parameters:

prefix - namespace prefix to look up

Returns:

the Namespace for this prefix at this location, or null if none

getQualifiedName

public java.lang.String getQualifiedName()

Returns the full name of the element, in the form [namespacePrefix]:[localName]. If the element does not have a namespace prefix, then the local name is returned.

Returns:

qualified name of the element (including namespace prefix)

addNamespaceDeclaration

public void addNamespaceDeclaration(Namespace additionalNamespace)

Adds a namespace declarations to this element. This should not be used to add the declaration for this element itself; that should be assigned in the construction of the element. Instead, this is for adding namespace declarations on the element not relating directly to itself. It's used during output to for stylistic reasons move namespace declarations higher in the tree than they would have to be.

Parameters:

additionalNamespace - namespace to add

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the namespace prefix collides with another namespace prefix on the element

removeNamespaceDeclaration

public void removeNamespaceDeclaration(Namespace additionalNamespace)

Removes an additional namespace declarations from this element. This should not be used to remove the declaration for this element itself; that should be handled in the construction of the element. Instead, this is for removing namespace declarations on the element not relating directly to itself. If the declaration is not present, this method does nothing.

Parameters:

additionalNamespace - namespace to remove

getAdditionalNamespaces

public java.util.List getAdditionalNamespaces()

Returns a list of the additional namespace declarations on this element. This includes only additional namespace, not the namespace of the element itself, which can be obtained through getNamespace(). If there are no additional declarations, this returns an empty list. Note, the returned list is unmodifiable.

Returns:

a List of the additional namespace declarations

getValue

public java.lang.String getValue()

Returns the XPath 1.0 string value of this element, which is the complete, ordered content of all text node descendants of this element (i.e. the text that's left after all references are resolved and all other markup is stripped out.)

Specified by:

getValue in class Content

Returns:

a concatentation of all text node descendants

isRootElement

public boolean isRootElement()

Returns whether this element is a root element. This can be used in tandem with Content.getParent() to determine if an element has any "attachments" to a parent element or document.

Returns:

whether this is a root element

getContentSize

public int getContentSize()

Description copied from interface: Parent

Returns the number of children in this parent's content list. Children may be any Content type.

Specified by:

getContentSize in interface Parent

Returns:

number of children

indexOf

public int indexOf(Content child)

Description copied from interface: Parent

Returns the index of the supplied child in the content list, or -1 if not a child of this parent.

Specified by:

indexOf in interface Parent

Parameters:

child - child to search for

Returns:

index of child, or -1 if not found

getText

public java.lang.String getText()

Returns the textual content directly held under this element as a string. This includes all text within this single element, including whitespace and CDATA sections if they exist. It's essentially the concatenation of all Text and CDATA nodes returned by getContent(). The call does not recurse into child elements. If no textual value exists for the element, an empty string is returned.

Returns:

text content for this element, or empty string if none

getTextTrim

public java.lang.String getTextTrim()

Returns the textual content of this element with all surrounding whitespace removed. If no textual value exists for the element, or if only whitespace exists, the empty string is returned.

Returns:

trimmed text content for this element, or empty string if none

getTextNormalize

public java.lang.String getTextNormalize()

Returns the textual content of this element with all surrounding whitespace removed and internal whitespace normalized to a single space. If no textual value exists for the element, or if only whitespace exists, the empty string is returned.

Returns:

normalized text content for this element, or empty string if none

getChildText

public java.lang.String getChildText(java.lang.String name)

Returns the textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child. This method is a convenience because calling getChild().getText() can throw a NullPointerException.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

Returns:

text content for the named child, or null if no such child

getChildTextTrim

public java.lang.String getChildTextTrim(java.lang.String name)

Returns the trimmed textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child. See getTextTrim() for details of text trimming.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

Returns:

trimmed text content for the named child, or null if no such child

getChildTextNormalize

public java.lang.String getChildTextNormalize(java.lang.String name)

Returns the normalized textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child. See getTextNormalize() for details of text normalizing.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

Returns:

normalized text content for the named child, or null if no such child

getChildText

public java.lang.String getChildText(java.lang.String name,
                                     Namespace ns)

Returns the textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

ns - the namespace of the child

Returns:

text content for the named child, or null if no such child

getChildTextTrim

public java.lang.String getChildTextTrim(java.lang.String name,
                                         Namespace ns)

Returns the trimmed textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

ns - the namespace of the child

Returns:

trimmed text content for the named child, or null if no such child

getChildTextNormalize

public java.lang.String getChildTextNormalize(java.lang.String name,
                                              Namespace ns)

Returns the normalized textual content of the named child element, or null if there's no such child.

Parameters:

name - the name of the child

ns - the namespace of the child

Returns:

normalized text content for the named child, or null if no such child

setText

public Element setText(java.lang.String text)

Sets the content of the element to be the text given. All existing text content and non-text context is removed. If this element should have both textual content and nested elements, use setContent(java.util.Collection) instead. Setting a null text value is equivalent to setting an empty string value.

Parameters:

text - new text content for the element

Returns:

the target element

Throws:

IllegalDataException - if the assigned text contains an illegal character such as a vertical tab (as determined by Verifier.checkCharacterData(java.lang.String))

getContent

public java.util.List getContent()

This returns the full content of the element as a List which may contain objects of type Text, Element, Comment, ProcessingInstruction, CDATA, and EntityRef. The List returned is "live" in document order and modifications to it affect the element's actual contents. Whitespace content is returned in its entirety.

Sequential traversal through the List is best done with an Iterator since the underlying implement of List.size() may require walking the entire list.

Specified by:

getContent in interface Parent

Returns:

a List containing the mixed content of the element: may contain Text, Element, Comment, ProcessingInstruction, CDATA, and EntityRef objects.

getContent

public java.util.List getContent(Filter filter)

Return a filter view of this Element's content.

Sequential traversal through the List is best done with a Iterator since the underlying implement of List.size() may require walking the entire list.

Specified by:

getContent in interface Parent

Parameters:

filter - Filter to apply

Returns:

List - filtered Element content

removeContent

public java.util.List removeContent()

Removes all child content from this parent.

Specified by:

removeContent in interface Parent

Returns:

list of the old children detached from this parent

removeContent

public java.util.List removeContent(Filter filter)

Remove all child content from this parent matching the supplied filter.

Specified by:

removeContent in interface Parent

Parameters:

filter - filter to select which content to remove

Returns:

list of the old children detached from this parent

setContent

public Element setContent(java.util.Collection newContent)

This sets the content of the element. The supplied List should contain only objects of type Element, Text, CDATA, Comment, ProcessingInstruction, and EntityRef.

When all objects in the supplied List are legal and before the new content is added, all objects in the old content will have their parentage set to null (no parent) and the old content list will be cleared. This has the effect that any active list (previously obtained with a call to getContent() or getChildren()) will also change to reflect the new content. In addition, all objects in the supplied List will have their parentage set to this element, but the List itself will not be "live" and further removals and additions will have no effect on this elements content. If the user wants to continue working with a "live" list, then a call to setContent should be followed by a call to getContent() or getChildren() to obtain a "live" version of the content.

Passing a null or empty List clears the existing content.

In event of an exception the original content will be unchanged and the objects in the supplied content will be unaltered.

Parameters:

newContent - Collection of content to set

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the List contains objects of illegal types or with existing parentage.

setContent

public Element setContent(int index,
                          Content child)

Replace the current child the given index with the supplied child.

In event of an exception the original content will be unchanged and the supplied child will be unaltered.

Parameters:

index - - index of child to replace.

child - - child to add.

Returns:

element on which this method was invoked

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the supplied child is already attached or not legal content for this parent.

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is negative or greater than the current number of children.

setContent

public Parent setContent(int index,
                         java.util.Collection newContent)

Replace the child at the given index whith the supplied collection.

In event of an exception the original content will be unchanged and the content in the supplied collection will be unaltered.

Parameters:

index - - index of child to replace.

newContent - - Collection of content to replace child.

Returns:

object on which this method was invoked

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the collection contains objects of illegal types.

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is negative or greater than the current number of children.

addContent

public Element addContent(java.lang.String str)

This adds text content to this element. It does not replace the existing content as does setText().

Parameters:

str - String to add

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalDataException - if str contains an illegal character such as a vertical tab (as determined by Verifier.checkCharacterData(java.lang.String))

addContent

public Element addContent(Content child)

Appends the child to the end of the element's content list.

Parameters:

child - child to append to end of content list

Returns:

the element on which the method was called

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the given child already has a parent.

addContent

public Element addContent(java.util.Collection newContent)

Appends all children in the given collection to the end of the content list. In event of an exception during add the original content will be unchanged and the objects in the supplied collection will be unaltered.

Parameters:

newContent - Collection of content to append

Returns:

the element on which the method was called

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if any item in the collection already has a parent or is of an inappropriate type.

addContent

public Element addContent(int index,
                          Content child)

Inserts the child into the content list at the given index.

Parameters:

index - location for adding the collection

child - child to insert

Returns:

the parent on which the method was called

Throws:

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is negative or beyond the current number of children

IllegalAddException - if the given child already has a parent.

addContent

public Element addContent(int index,
                          java.util.Collection newContent)

Inserts the content in a collection into the content list at the given index. In event of an exception the original content will be unchanged and the objects in the supplied collection will be unaltered.

Parameters:

index - location for adding the collection

newContent - Collection of content to insert

Returns:

the parent on which the method was called

Throws:

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is negative or beyond the current number of children

IllegalAddException - if any item in the collection already has a parent or is of an inappropriate type.

cloneContent

public java.util.List cloneContent()

Description copied from interface: Parent

Returns a list containing detached clones of this parent's content list.

Specified by:

cloneContent in interface Parent

Returns:

list of cloned child content

getContent

public Content getContent(int index)

Description copied from interface: Parent

Returns the child at the given index.

Specified by:

getContent in interface Parent

Parameters:

index - location of desired child

Returns:

child at the given index

removeContent

public boolean removeContent(Content child)

Description copied from interface: Parent

Removes a single child node from the content list.

Specified by:

removeContent in interface Parent

Parameters:

child - child to remove

Returns:

whether the removal occurred

removeContent

public Content removeContent(int index)

Description copied from interface: Parent

Removes and returns the child at the given index, or returns null if there's no such child.

Specified by:

removeContent in interface Parent

Parameters:

index - index of child to remove

Returns:

detached child at given index or null if no

setContent

public Element setContent(Content child)

Set this element's content to be the supplied child.

If the supplied child is legal content for this parent and before it is added, all content in the current content list will be cleared and all current children will have their parentage set to null.

This has the effect that any active list (previously obtained with a call to one of the getContent() methods will also change to reflect the new content. In addition, all content in the supplied collection will have their parentage set to this parent. If the user wants to continue working with a "live" list of this parent's child, then a call to setContent should be followed by a call to one of the getContent() methods to obtain a "live" version of the children.

Passing a null child clears the existing content.

In event of an exception the original content will be unchanged and the supplied child will be unaltered.

Parameters:

child - new content to replace existing content

Returns:

the parent on which the method was called

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the supplied child is already attached or not legal content for an Element

isAncestor

public boolean isAncestor(Element element)

Determines if this element is the ancestor of another element.

Parameters:

element - Element to check against

Returns:

true if this element is the ancestor of the supplied element

getAttributes

public java.util.List getAttributes()

This returns the complete set of attributes for this element, as a List of Attribute objects in no particular order, or an empty list if there are none. The returned list is "live" and changes to it affect the element's actual attributes.

Returns:

attributes for the element

getAttribute

public Attribute getAttribute(java.lang.String name)

This returns the attribute for this element with the given name and within no namespace, or null if no such attribute exists.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute to return

Returns:

attribute for the element

getAttribute

public Attribute getAttribute(java.lang.String name,
                              Namespace ns)

This returns the attribute for this element with the given name and within the given Namespace, or null if no such attribute exists.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute to return

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

attribute for the element

getAttributeValue

public java.lang.String getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name)

This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within no namespace, null if there is no such attribute, and the empty string if the attribute value is empty.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute whose value to be returned

Returns:

the named attribute's value, or null if no such attribute

getAttributeValue

public java.lang.String getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name,
                                          java.lang.String def)

This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within no namespace, or the passed-in default if there is no such attribute.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute whose value to be returned

def - a default value to return if the attribute does not exist

Returns:

the named attribute's value, or the default if no such attribute

getAttributeValue

public java.lang.String getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name,
                                          Namespace ns)

This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace, null if there is no such attribute, and the empty string if the attribute value is empty.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute whose valud is to be returned

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

the named attribute's value, or null if no such attribute

getAttributeValue

public java.lang.String getAttributeValue(java.lang.String name,
                                          Namespace ns,
                                          java.lang.String def)

This returns the attribute value for the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace, or the passed-in default if there is no such attribute.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute whose valud is to be returned

ns - Namespace to search within

def - a default value to return if the attribute does not exist

Returns:

the named attribute's value, or the default if no such attribute

setAttributes

public Element setAttributes(java.util.Collection newAttributes)

This sets the attributes of the element. The supplied Collection should contain only objects of type Attribute.

When all objects in the supplied List are legal and before the new attributes are added, all old attributes will have their parentage set to null (no parent) and the old attribute list will be cleared. This has the effect that any active attribute list (previously obtained with a call to getAttributes()) will also change to reflect the new attributes. In addition, all attributes in the supplied List will have their parentage set to this element, but the List itself will not be "live" and further removals and additions will have no effect on this elements attributes. If the user wants to continue working with a "live" attribute list, then a call to setAttributes should be followed by a call to getAttributes() to obtain a "live" version of the attributes.

Passing a null or empty List clears the existing attributes.

In cases where the List contains duplicate attributes, only the last one will be retained. This has the same effect as calling setAttribute(Attribute) sequentially.

In event of an exception the original attributes will be unchanged and the attributes in the supplied attributes will be unaltered.

Parameters:

newAttributes - Collection of attributes to set

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the List contains objects that are not instances of Attribute, or if any of the Attribute objects have conflicting namespace prefixes.

setAttributes

public Element setAttributes(java.util.List newAttributes)

This sets the attributes of the element. It's an alternate form of the method, accepting a List instead of a Collection, for backward compatibility.

setAttribute

public Element setAttribute(java.lang.String name,
                            java.lang.String value)

This sets an attribute value for this element. Any existing attribute with the same name and namespace URI is removed.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute to set

value - value of the attribute to set

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an attribute name.

IllegalDataException - if the given attribute value is illegal character data (as determined by Verifier.checkCharacterData(java.lang.String)).

setAttribute

public Element setAttribute(java.lang.String name,
                            java.lang.String value,
                            Namespace ns)

This sets an attribute value for this element. Any existing attribute with the same name and namespace URI is removed.

Parameters:

name - name of the attribute to set

value - value of the attribute to set

ns - namespace of the attribute to set

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalNameException - if the given name is illegal as an attribute name, or if the namespace is an unprefixed default namespace

IllegalDataException - if the given attribute value is illegal character data (as determined by Verifier.checkCharacterData(java.lang.String)).

IllegalAddException - if the attribute namespace prefix collides with another namespace prefix on the element.

setAttribute

public Element setAttribute(Attribute attribute)

This sets an attribute value for this element. Any existing attribute with the same name and namespace URI is removed.

Parameters:

attribute - Attribute to set

Returns:

this element modified

Throws:

IllegalAddException - if the attribute being added already has a parent or if the attribute namespace prefix collides with another namespace prefix on the element.

removeAttribute

public boolean removeAttribute(java.lang.String name)

This removes the attribute with the given name and within no namespace. If no such attribute exists, this method does nothing.

Parameters:

name - name of attribute to remove

Returns:

whether the attribute was removed

removeAttribute

public boolean removeAttribute(java.lang.String name,
                               Namespace ns)

This removes the attribute with the given name and within the given Namespace. If no such attribute exists, this method does nothing.

Parameters:

name - name of attribute to remove

ns - namespace URI of attribute to remove

Returns:

whether the attribute was removed

removeAttribute

public boolean removeAttribute(Attribute attribute)

This removes the supplied Attribute should it exist.

Parameters:

attribute - Reference to the attribute to be removed.

Returns:

whether the attribute was removed

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

This returns a String representation of the Element, suitable for debugging. If the XML representation of the Element is desired, XMLOutputter.outputString(Element) should be used.

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

String - information about the Element

clone

public java.lang.Object clone()

This returns a deep clone of this element. The new element is detached from its parent, and getParent() on the clone will return null.

Specified by:

clone in interface Parent

Overrides:

clone in class Content

Returns:

the clone of this element

getDescendants

public java.util.Iterator getDescendants()

Returns an iterator that walks over all descendants in document order.

Specified by:

getDescendants in interface Parent

Returns:

an iterator to walk descendants

getDescendants

public java.util.Iterator getDescendants(Filter filter)

Returns an iterator that walks over all descendants in document order applying the Filter to return only elements that match the filter rule. With filters you can match only Elements, only Comments, Elements or Comments, only Elements with a given name and/or prefix, and so on.

Specified by:

getDescendants in interface Parent

Parameters:

filter - filter to select which descendants to see

Returns:

an iterator to walk descendants within a filter

getChildren

public java.util.List getChildren()

This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element, as Element objects. If this target element has no nested elements, an empty List is returned. The returned list is "live" in document order and changes to it affect the element's actual contents.

Sequential traversal through the List is best done with a Iterator since the underlying implement of List.size() may not be the most efficient.

No recursion is performed, so elements nested two levels deep would have to be obtained with:

 
   Iterator itr = (currentElement.getChildren()).iterator();
   while(itr.hasNext()) {
     Element oneLevelDeep = (Element)itr.next();
     List twoLevelsDeep = oneLevelDeep.getChildren();
     // Do something with these children
   }
 
 

Returns:

list of child Element objects for this element

getChildren

public java.util.List getChildren(java.lang.String name)

This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element with the given local name and belonging to no namespace, returned as Element objects. If this target element has no nested elements with the given name outside a namespace, an empty List is returned. The returned list is "live" in document order and changes to it affect the element's actual contents.

Please see the notes for getChildren() for a code example.

Parameters:

name - local name for the children to match

Returns:

all matching child elements

getChildren

public java.util.List getChildren(java.lang.String name,
                                  Namespace ns)

This returns a List of all the child elements nested directly (one level deep) within this element with the given local name and belonging to the given Namespace, returned as Element objects. If this target element has no nested elements with the given name in the given Namespace, an empty List is returned. The returned list is "live" in document order and changes to it affect the element's actual contents.

Please see the notes for getChildren() for a code example.

Parameters:

name - local name for the children to match

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

all matching child elements

getChild

public Element getChild(java.lang.String name,
                        Namespace ns)

This returns the first child element within this element with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace. If no elements exist for the specified name and namespace, null is returned.

Parameters:

name - local name of child element to match

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

the first matching child element, or null if not found

getChild

public Element getChild(java.lang.String name)

This returns the first child element within this element with the given local name and belonging to no namespace. If no elements exist for the specified name and namespace, null is returned.

Parameters:

name - local name of child element to match

Returns:

the first matching child element, or null if not found

removeChild

public boolean removeChild(java.lang.String name)

This removes the first child element (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to no namespace. Returns true if a child was removed.

Parameters:

name - the name of child elements to remove

Returns:

whether deletion occurred

removeChild

public boolean removeChild(java.lang.String name,
                           Namespace ns)

This removes the first child element (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace. Returns true if a child was removed.

Parameters:

name - the name of child element to remove

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

whether deletion occurred

removeChildren

public boolean removeChildren(java.lang.String name)

This removes all child elements (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to no namespace. Returns true if any were removed.

Parameters:

name - the name of child elements to remove

Returns:

whether deletion occurred

removeChildren

public boolean removeChildren(java.lang.String name,
                              Namespace ns)

This removes all child elements (one level deep) with the given local name and belonging to the given namespace. Returns true if any were removed.

Parameters:

name - the name of child elements to remove

ns - Namespace to search within

Returns:

whether deletion occurred