org.jdom
Class Entity

public class Entity

implements Cloneable, Serializable

Entity Defines an XML entity in Java.

Author:

Brett McLaughlin, Jason Hunter

Version: 1.0

public Entity(String name)

This will create a new Entity with the supplied name.

Parameters:

name - String name of element.

public Entity addChild(Element element)

This will add an Element as a child of this Entity.

Parameters:

element - Element to add as a child.

Returns: Entity - this Entity modified.

public Entity addChild(String s)

This will add a String as a child of this Entity.

Parameters:

s - String to add as a child.

Returns: Entity - this Entity modified.

public Entity addText(String text)

This will add text to the content of this Entity.

Parameters:

text - String to add as content.

Returns: Entity - this Entity modified.

public Object clone()

This will return a clone of this Entity.

Returns: Object - clone of this Entity.

public final boolean equals(Object ob)

This tests for equality of this Entity to the supplied Object.

Parameters:

ob - Object to compare to.

Returns: boolean - whether the Entity is equal to the supplied Object.

public List getChildren()

This will return a List of all the XML elements nested directly (one level deep) within this Entity, each in Element form. If the Wntity has no nested elements, an empty list will be returned.

This performs no recursion, so an elements nested two levels deep would have to be obtained with:

List nestedElements = currentEntity.getChildren();
for (int i=0; i<nestedElements.size(); i++) {
Element oneLevelDeep = (Element)nestedElements.get(i);
List twoLevelsDeep = oneLevelDeep.getChildren();
// Do something with these children
}

Returns: List - list of nested Element instances for this entity.

public String getContent()

This will return the actual textual content of this Entity. This will include all text within this single element, including CDATA sections if they exist. If no textual value exists for the Entity, an empty String is returned.

Returns: String - value for this element.

public Document getDocument()

This retrieves the owning Document for this Entity, or null if not a currently a member of a Document.

Returns: Document owning this Entity, or null.

public List getMixedContent()

This will return the content of the entity. This should be used when the hasMixedContent() evaluates to true. When there is no mixed content, it returns a List with a single String (when only data is present) or a List with only elements (when only nested elements are present).

Returns: List - the mixed content of the Element: contains String, Element, and Comment, objects.

public String getName()

This returns the name of the Entity.

Returns: String - entity name.

public Element getParent()

This will return the parent of this Entity. If there is no parent, then this returns null.

Returns: parent of this Entity

public final String getSerializedForm()

This will return the Comment in XML format, usable in an XML document.

Returns: String - the serialized form of the Comment.

public final int hashCode()

This returns the hash code for this Entity.

Returns: int - hash code.

public boolean hasMixedContent()

This will indicate whether the entity has mixed content or not. Mixed content is when an element contains both textual and element data within it. When this evaluates to true, getMixedContent() should be used for getting element data.

Note:I think there's a better way to do this, maybe store a member variable, but I'm too tired to really think of what it is... (brett).

Returns: boolean - indicating whether there is mixed content (both textual data and elements).

public Entity setChildren(List children)

This will set the children of this Entity to the Elements within the supplied :ost. All existing children of this Entity are replaced.

Parameters:

children - List of Elements to add.

Returns: Entity - this element modified.

public Entity setContent(String textContent)

This will set the textual content of the Entity. If this Entity will have both textual content and nested elements, setMixedContent(java.util.List) should be used instead,

Parameters:

textContent - String content for Entity.

Returns: Entity - this element modified.

public Entity setMixedContent(List mixedContent)

This will return the content of the element. This should be used when the hasMixedContent() evaluates to true. When there is no mixed content, it returns a List with a single String (when only data is present) or a List with only elements (when only nested elements are present).

Returns: Entity - this entity modified.

public String toString()

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

Returns: String - information about the Entity

Association Links

to Class java.lang.String

The name of the Entity

to Class java.util.List

The mixed content of the Entity

to Class org.jdom.Element

Parent element, or null if none

to Class org.jdom.Document

Containing document node, or null if none