[jdom-interest] Planning for JDOM 2.1.x

[Rolf Lear]

Hi all.

There are a few new features for JDOM that should be pushed to a 2.1.x 
version. These items include:
  - an extension to the XPathFactory API that allows for an 
implementation to reuse a 'compiled' or 'preprocessed' version of the 
JDOMDocument for the XPath lookups.
  - additional XMLStream* implementations (StAX) to output/build JDOM 
content that would allow JDOM to be a natural storage target for the 
native Java JAXB processes.
  - let JDOM Core classes accept Iterable<...> instances (for example, 
Element.addAll(Collection<? extends Content>) could rather be 
Element.addAll(Iterable<? extends Content>)
  - Saxon is anticipating a new version soon, and it would be great to 
formalize support for using Saxon for XSLT transformation and XPath 
evaluation.
  - I have some extensions I would like to make to the NamespaceStack 
class to facilitate easier access to Namespace logic.
  - for

Depending on other factors, I think it would be reasonable to target a 
2.1.0 release around April Fool's day. That gives some time for some 
beta versions for some field testing. Also, hopefully the 9.5 Saxon 
release will be out by then.

I have been working with Saxon to integrate their API for XPath 
evaluation in JDOM, but there are a couple of technical issues in JDOM 
and the way that existing XPath evaluation is done that make it slightly 
incompatible with the Saxon (and XPath) API. There is a lot of common 
ground though, and using native Saxon for JDOM/XSLT makes sense, but 
will need some tweaks for use with JDOM XPath evaluation.

I have also been working with Gordon Burgett on the new StAX Support 
based on his code submission on GitHub, and I also have code ready for 
the extensions to the XPath API. The Iterable changes would be 
relatively easy to implement, and the NamespaceStack class would be a 
simple extension with no existing logic changes (and the work is mostly 
done).

I am looking for input on any other features or updates that you would 
like included in a 2.1 version. For example, is anyone using any code 
from the contrib area, and should that contrib code be 'productionized'?

Thanks

Rolf