org.w3c.dom
Interface Node

All Known Subinterfaces:
Attr, CDATASection, CharacterData, Comment, Document, DocumentFragment, DocumentType, Element, Entity, EntityReference, Notation, ProcessingInstruction, Text

public interface Node

The Node interface is the primary datatype for the entire Document Object Model. It represents a single node in the document tree. While all objects implementing the Node interface expose methods for dealing with children, not all objects implementing the Node interface may have children. For example, Text nodes may not have children, and adding children to such nodes results in a DOMException being raised.

The attributes nodeName, nodeValue and attributes are included as a mechanism to get at node information without casting down to the specific derived interface. In cases where there is no obvious mapping of these attributes for a specific nodeType (e.g., nodeValue for an Element or attributes for a Comment), this returns null. Note that the specialized interfaces may contain additional and more convenient mechanisms to get and set the relevant information.

The values of nodeName, nodeValue, and attributes vary according to the node type as follows:

Node Type nodeName nodeValue attributes
Element tagName null NamedNodeMap
Attr name of attribute value of attribute null
Text #text content of the text node null
CDATASection #cdata-section content of the CDATA Section null
EntityReference name of entity referenced null null
Entity entity name null null
ProcessingInstruction target entire content excluding the target null
Comment #comment content of the comment null
Document #document null null
DocumentType document type name null null
DocumentFragment #document-fragment null null
Notation notation name null null

Property Summary
 nodeName getNodeName

The name of this node, depending on its type; see the table above.

 nodeValue getNodeValue setNodeValue

The value of this node, depending on its type; see the table above.

 nodeType getNodeType

A code representing the type of the underlying object, as defined above.

 parentNode getParentNode

The parent of this node. All nodes, except Document, DocumentFragment, and Attr may have a parent. However, if a node has just been created and not yet added to the tree, or if it has been removed from the tree, this is null.

 childNodes getChildNodes

A NodeList that contains all children of this node. If there are no children, this is a NodeList containing no nodes. The content of the returned NodeList is "live" in the sense that, for instance, changes to the children of the node object that it was created from are immediately reflected in the nodes returned by the NodeList accessors; it is not a static snapshot of the content of the node. This is true for every NodeList, including the ones returned by the getElementsByTagName method.

 firstChild getFirstChild

The first child of this node. If there is no such node, this returns null.

 lastChild getLastChild

The last child of this node. If there is no such node, this returns null.

 previousSibling getPreviousSibling

The node immediately preceding this node. If there is no such node, this returns null.

 nextSibling getNextSibling

The node immediately following this node. If there is no such node, this returns null.

 attributes getAttributes

A NamedNodeMap containing the attributes of this node (if it is an Element) or null otherwise.

 ownerDocument getOwnerDocument

The Document object associated with this node. This is also the Document object used to create new nodes. When this node is a Document this is null.

 


Field Summary
static short ATTRIBUTE_NODE
          The node is an Attr.
static short CDATA_SECTION_NODE
          The node is a CDATASection.
static short COMMENT_NODE
          The node is a Comment.
static short DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE
          The node is a DocumentFragment.
static short DOCUMENT_NODE
          The node is a Document.
static short DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE
          The node is a DocumentType.
static short ELEMENT_NODE
          The node is a Element.
static short ENTITY_NODE
          The node is an Entity.
static short ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE
          The node is an EntityReference.
static short NOTATION_NODE
          The node is a Notation.
static short PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE
          The node is a ProcessingInstruction.
static short TEXT_NODE
          The node is a Text node.
 
Method Summary
 Node appendChild(Node newChild)
          Adds the node newChild to the end of the list of children of this node.
 Node cloneNode(boolean deep)
          Returns a duplicate of this node, i.e., serves as a generic copy constructor for nodes.
 NamedNodeMap getAttributes()
          Returns the value of the attributes property.
 NodeList getChildNodes()
          Returns the value of the childNodes property.
 Node getFirstChild()
          Returns the value of the firstChild property.
 Node getLastChild()
          Returns the value of the lastChild property.
 Node getNextSibling()
          Returns the value of the nextSibling property.
 java.lang.String getNodeName()
          Returns the value of the nodeName property.
 short getNodeType()
          Returns the value of the nodeType property.
 java.lang.String getNodeValue()
          Returns the value of the nodeValue property.
 Document getOwnerDocument()
          Returns the value of the ownerDocument property.
 Node getParentNode()
          Returns the value of the parentNode property.
 Node getPreviousSibling()
          Returns the value of the previousSibling property.
 boolean hasChildNodes()
           This is a convenience method to allow easy determination of whether a node has any children.
 Node insertBefore(Node newChild, Node refChild)
          Inserts the node newChild before the existing child node refChild.
 Node removeChild(Node oldChild)
          Removes the child node indicated by oldChild from the list of children, and returns it.
 Node replaceChild(Node newChild, Node oldChild)
          Replaces the child node oldChild with newChild in the list of children, and returns the oldChild node.
 void setNodeValue(java.lang.String nodeValue)
          Assigns the value of the nodeValue property.
 

Field Detail

ELEMENT_NODE

public static final short ELEMENT_NODE
The node is a Element.

ATTRIBUTE_NODE

public static final short ATTRIBUTE_NODE
The node is an Attr.

TEXT_NODE

public static final short TEXT_NODE
The node is a Text node.

CDATA_SECTION_NODE

public static final short CDATA_SECTION_NODE
The node is a CDATASection.

ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE

public static final short ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE
The node is an EntityReference.

ENTITY_NODE

public static final short ENTITY_NODE
The node is an Entity.

PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE

public static final short PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE
The node is a ProcessingInstruction.

COMMENT_NODE

public static final short COMMENT_NODE
The node is a Comment.

DOCUMENT_NODE

public static final short DOCUMENT_NODE
The node is a Document.

DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE

public static final short DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE
The node is a DocumentType.

DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE

public static final short DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE
The node is a DocumentFragment.

NOTATION_NODE

public static final short NOTATION_NODE
The node is a Notation.
Method Detail

getNodeName

public java.lang.String getNodeName()
Returns the value of the nodeName property.

setNodeValue

public void setNodeValue(java.lang.String nodeValue)
                  throws DOMException
Assigns the value of the nodeValue property.
Throws:
DOMException -

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised when the node is readonly.


getNodeValue

public java.lang.String getNodeValue()
                              throws DOMException
Returns the value of the nodeValue property.
Throws:
DOMException -

DOMSTRING_SIZE_ERR: Raised when it would return more characters than fit in a DOMString variable on the implementation platform.


getNodeType

public short getNodeType()
Returns the value of the nodeType property.

getParentNode

public Node getParentNode()
Returns the value of the parentNode property.

getChildNodes

public NodeList getChildNodes()
Returns the value of the childNodes property.

getFirstChild

public Node getFirstChild()
Returns the value of the firstChild property.

getLastChild

public Node getLastChild()
Returns the value of the lastChild property.

getPreviousSibling

public Node getPreviousSibling()
Returns the value of the previousSibling property.

getNextSibling

public Node getNextSibling()
Returns the value of the nextSibling property.

getAttributes

public NamedNodeMap getAttributes()
Returns the value of the attributes property.

getOwnerDocument

public Document getOwnerDocument()
Returns the value of the ownerDocument property.

insertBefore

public Node insertBefore(Node newChild,
                         Node refChild)
                  throws DOMException

Inserts the node newChild before the existing child node refChild. If refChild is null, insert newChild at the end of the list of children.

If newChild is a DocumentFragment object, all of its children are inserted, in the same order, before refChild. If the newChild is already in the tree, it is first removed.

Parameters:
newChild - The node to insert.
refChild - The reference node, i.e., the node before which the new node must be inserted.
Returns:
The node being inserted.
Throws:
HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: - Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to insert is one of this node's ancestors.

WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR: Raised if newChild was created from a different document than the one that created this node.

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if refChild is not a child of this node.


replaceChild

public Node replaceChild(Node newChild,
                         Node oldChild)
                  throws DOMException

Replaces the child node oldChild with newChild in the list of children, and returns the oldChild node. If the newChild is already in the tree, it is first removed.

Parameters:
newChild - The new node to put in the child list.
oldChild - The node being replaced in the list.
Returns:
The node replaced.
Throws:
HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: - Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or it the node to put in is one of this node's ancestors.

WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR: Raised if newChild was created from a different document than the one that created this node.

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if oldChild is not a child of this node.


removeChild

public Node removeChild(Node oldChild)
                 throws DOMException

Removes the child node indicated by oldChild from the list of children, and returns it.

Parameters:
oldChild - The node being removed.
Returns:
The node removed.
Throws:
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: - Raised if this node is readonly.

NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if oldChild is not a child of this node.


appendChild

public Node appendChild(Node newChild)
                 throws DOMException

Adds the node newChild to the end of the list of children of this node. If the newChild is already in the tree, it is first removed.

Parameters:
newChild - The node to add.

If it is a DocumentFragment object, the entire contents of the document fragment are moved into the child list of this node

Returns:
The node added.
Throws:
HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: - Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to append is one of this node's ancestors.

WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR: Raised if newChild was created from a different document than the one that created this node.

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.


hasChildNodes

public boolean hasChildNodes()

This is a convenience method to allow easy determination of whether a node has any children.

Returns:
true if the node has any children, false if the node has no children.

cloneNode

public Node cloneNode(boolean deep)

Returns a duplicate of this node, i.e., serves as a generic copy constructor for nodes. The duplicate node has no parent ( parentNode returns null.).

Cloning an Element copies all attributes and their values, including those generated by the XML processor to represent defaulted attributes, but this method does not copy any text it contains unless it is a deep clone, since the text is contained in a child Text node. Cloning any other type of node simply returns a copy of this node.

Parameters:
deep - If true, recursively clone the subtree under the specified node; if false, clone only the node itself (and its attributes, if it is an Element).
Returns:
The duplicate node.


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