org.dom4j
Class DocumentHelper

java.lang.Object
  org.dom4j.DocumentHelper

public final class DocumentHelper

extends Object

DocumentHelper is a collection of helper methods for using DOM4J.

Version:

$Revision: 1.26 $

Author:

James Strachan

Method Summary

static Attribute	createAttribute(Element owner, QName qname, String value)
static Attribute	createAttribute(Element owner, String name, String value)
static CDATA	createCDATA(String text)
static Comment	createComment(String text)
static Document	createDocument()
static Document	createDocument(Element rootElement)
static Element	createElement(QName qname)
static Element	createElement(String name)
static Entity	createEntity(String name, String text)
static Namespace	createNamespace(String prefix, String uri)
static Pattern	createPattern(String xpathPattern) createPattern parses the given XPath expression to create an XSLT style Patterninstance which can then be used in an XSLT processing model.
static ProcessingInstruction	createProcessingInstruction(String pi, Map data)
static ProcessingInstruction	createProcessingInstruction(String pi, String d)
static QName	createQName(String localName)
static QName	createQName(String localName, Namespace namespace)
static Text	createText(String text)
static XPath	createXPath(String xpathExpression) createXPath parses an XPath expression and creates a new XPath XPath instance using the singleton DocumentFactory.
static XPath	createXPath(String xpathExpression, org.jaxen.VariableContext context) createXPath parses an XPath expression and creates a new XPath XPath instance using the singleton DocumentFactory.
static NodeFilter	createXPathFilter(String xpathFilterExpression) createXPathFilter parses a NodeFilter from the given XPath filter expression using the singleton DocumentFactory.
static Element	makeElement(Branch source, String path) makeElement a helper method which navigates from the given Document or Element node to some Element using the path expression, creating any necessary elements along the way.
static Document	parseText(String text) parseText parses the given text as an XML document and returns the newly created Document.
static List	selectNodes(String xpathFilterExpression, List nodes) selectNodes performs the given XPath expression on the Listof Nodeinstances appending all the results together into a single list.
static List	selectNodes(String xpathFilterExpression, Node node) selectNodes performs the given XPath expression on the Listof Nodeinstances appending all the results together into a single list.
static void	sort(List list, String xpathExpression) sort sorts the given List of Nodes using an XPath expression as a Comparator.
static void	sort(List list, String expression, boolean distinct) sort sorts the given List of Nodes using an XPath expression as a Comparatorand optionally removing duplicates.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

createDocument

public static Document createDocument()

createDocument

public static Document createDocument(Element rootElement)

createElement

public static Element createElement(QName qname)

createElement

public static Element createElement(String name)

createAttribute

public static Attribute createAttribute(Element owner,
                                        QName qname,
                                        String value)

createAttribute

public static Attribute createAttribute(Element owner,
                                        String name,
                                        String value)

createCDATA

public static CDATA createCDATA(String text)

createComment

public static Comment createComment(String text)

createText

public static Text createText(String text)

createEntity

public static Entity createEntity(String name,
                                  String text)

createNamespace

public static Namespace createNamespace(String prefix,
                                        String uri)

createProcessingInstruction

public static ProcessingInstruction createProcessingInstruction(String pi,
                                                                String d)

createProcessingInstruction

public static ProcessingInstruction createProcessingInstruction(String pi,
                                                                Map data)

createQName

public static QName createQName(String localName,
                                Namespace namespace)

createQName

public static QName createQName(String localName)

createXPath

public static XPath createXPath(String xpathExpression)
                         throws InvalidXPathException

createXPath parses an XPath expression and creates a new XPath XPath instance using the singleton DocumentFactory.

Parameters:

xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to create

Returns:

a new XPath instance

Throws:

InvalidXPathException - if the XPath expression is invalid

createXPath

public static XPath createXPath(String xpathExpression,
                                org.jaxen.VariableContext context)
                         throws InvalidXPathException

createXPath parses an XPath expression and creates a new XPath XPath instance using the singleton DocumentFactory.

Parameters:

xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to create

context - is the variable context to use when evaluating the XPath

Returns:

a new XPath instance

Throws:

InvalidXPathException - if the XPath expression is invalid

createXPathFilter

public static NodeFilter createXPathFilter(String xpathFilterExpression)

createXPathFilter parses a NodeFilter from the given XPath filter expression using the singleton DocumentFactory. XPath filter expressions occur within XPath expressions such as self::node()[ filterExpression ]

Parameters:

xpathFilterExpression - is the XPath filter expression to create

Returns:

a new NodeFilter instance

createPattern

public static Pattern createPattern(String xpathPattern)

createPattern parses the given XPath expression to create an XSLT style Patterninstance which can then be used in an XSLT processing model.

Parameters:

xpathPattern - is the XPath pattern expression to create

Returns:

a new Pattern instance

selectNodes

public static List selectNodes(String xpathFilterExpression,
                               List nodes)

selectNodes performs the given XPath expression on the Listof Nodeinstances appending all the results together into a single list.

Parameters:

xpathFilterExpression - is the XPath filter expression to evaluate

nodes - is the list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath

Returns:

the results of all the XPath evaluations as a single list

selectNodes

public static List selectNodes(String xpathFilterExpression,
                               Node node)

selectNodes performs the given XPath expression on the Listof Nodeinstances appending all the results together into a single list.

Parameters:

xpathFilterExpression - is the XPath filter expression to evaluate

node - is the Node on which to evalute the XPath

Returns:

the results of all the XPath evaluations as a single list

sort

public static void sort(List list,
                        String xpathExpression)

sort sorts the given List of Nodes using an XPath expression as a Comparator.

Parameters:

list - is the list of Nodes to sort

xpathExpression - is the XPath expression used for comparison

sort

public static void sort(List list,
                        String expression,
                        boolean distinct)

sort sorts the given List of Nodes using an XPath expression as a Comparatorand optionally removing duplicates.

Parameters:

list - is the list of Nodes to sort

expression - is the XPath expression used for comparison

distinct - if true then duplicate values (using the sortXPath for comparisions) will be removed from the List

parseText

public static Document parseText(String text)
                          throws DocumentException

parseText parses the given text as an XML document and returns the newly created Document.

Parameters:

text - the XML text to be parsed

Returns:

a newly parsed Document

Throws:

DocumentException - if the document could not be parsed

makeElement

public static Element makeElement(Branch source,
                                  String path)

makeElement

a helper method which navigates from the given Document or Element node to some Element using the path expression, creating any necessary elements along the way. For example the path a/b/c would get the first child <a> element, which would be created if it did not exist, then the next child <b> and so on until finally a <c> element is returned.

Parameters:

source - is the Element or Document to start navigating from

path - is a simple path expression, seperated by '/' which denotes the path from the source to the resulting element such as a/b/c

Returns:

the first Element on the given path which either already existed on the path or were created by this method.