Node (dom4j API)

All Superinterfaces:

java.lang.Cloneable

All Known Subinterfaces:

Attribute, Branch, CDATA, Comment, Document, DocumentType, Element, Entity, CharacterData, ProcessingInstruction, Text

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractAttribute, AbstractBranch, AbstractCDATA, AbstractComment, AbstractDocument, AbstractDocumentType, AbstractElement, AbstractEntity, AbstractCharacterData, AbstractNode, AbstractProcessingInstruction, AbstractText, BaseElement, BeanAttribute, BeanElement, DatatypeAttribute, DatatypeElement, DefaultAttribute, DefaultCDATA, DefaultComment, DefaultDocument, DefaultDocumentType, DefaultElement, DefaultEntity, DefaultNamespace, DefaultProcessingInstruction, DefaultText, DOMAttribute, DOMCDATA, DOMComment, DOMDocument, DOMDocumentType, DOMElement, DOMEntityReference, DOMNamespace, DOMProcessingInstruction, DOMText, FlyweightAttribute, FlyweightCDATA, FlyweightComment, FlyweightEntity, FlyweightProcessingInstruction, FlyweightText, IndexedElement, Namespace, NonLazyElement, UserDataAttribute, UserDataElement
```
public interface Node
extends java.lang.Cloneable
```
Node defines the polymorphic behavior for all XML nodes in a dom4j tree. A node can be output as its XML format, can be detached from its position in a document and can have XPath expressions evaluated on itself. A node may optionally support the parent relationship and may be read only.

See Also:

supportsParent(), isReadOnly()

Field Summary

Fields
Modifier and Type	Field and Description
`static short`	`ANY_NODE` Matches Element nodes
`static short`	`ATTRIBUTE_NODE` Matches elements nodes
`static short`	`CDATA_SECTION_NODE` Matches elements nodes
`static short`	`COMMENT_NODE` Matches Comments nodes
`static short`	`DOCUMENT_NODE` Matches Document nodes
`static short`	`DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE` Matches DocumentType nodes
`static short`	`ELEMENT_NODE` Matches Element nodes
`static short`	`ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE` Matches elements nodes
`static short`	`MAX_NODE_TYPE` The maximum number of node types for sizing purposes
`static short`	`NAMESPACE_NODE` Matchs a Namespace Node - NOTE this differs from DOM
`static short`	`PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE` Matches ProcessingInstruction
`static short`	`TEXT_NODE` Matches elements nodes
`static short`	`UNKNOWN_NODE` Does not match any valid node

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`void`	`accept(Visitor visitor)` `accept` is the method used in the Visitor Pattern.
`java.lang.String`	`asXML()` `asXML` returns the textual XML representation of this node.
`Node`	`asXPathResult(Element parent)` `asXPathResult` returns a version of this node which is capable of being an XPath result.
`java.lang.Object`	`clone()` `clone` will return a deep clone or if this node is read-only then clone will return the same instance.
`XPath`	`createXPath(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `createXPath` creates an XPath object for the given xpathExpression.
`Node`	`detach()` Removes this node from its parent if there is one.
`Document`	`getDocument()` `getDocument` returns the `Document` that this `Node` is part of if this node supports the parent relationship.
`java.lang.String`	`getName()` `getName` returns the name of this node.
`short`	`getNodeType()` Returns the code according to the type of node.
`java.lang.String`	`getNodeTypeName()` DOCUMENT ME!
`Element`	`getParent()` `getParent` returns the parent `Element` if this node supports the parent relationship or null if it is the root element or does not support the parent relationship.
`java.lang.String`	`getPath()` Returns the XPath expression which will return a node set containing the given node such as /a/b/@c.
`java.lang.String`	`getPath(Element context)` Returns the relative XPath expression which will return a node set containing the given node such as a/b/@c.
`java.lang.String`	`getStringValue()` Returns the XPath string-value of this node.
`java.lang.String`	`getText()` Returns the text of this node.
`java.lang.String`	`getUniquePath()` Returns the XPath expression which will return a nodeset of one node which is the current node.
`java.lang.String`	`getUniquePath(Element context)` Returns the relative unique XPath expression from the given context which will return a nodeset of one node which is the current node.
`boolean`	`hasContent()` `hasContent` returns true if this node is a Branch (either an Element or a Document) and it contains at least one content node such as a child Element or Text node.
`boolean`	`isReadOnly()` `isReadOnly` returns true if this node is read only and cannot be modified.
`boolean`	`matches(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `matches` returns true if evaluating the given XPath expression on this node returns a non-empty node set containing this node.
`java.lang.Number`	`numberValueOf(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `numberValueOf` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the numeric value of the XPath expression if the XPath expression results in a number, or null if the result is not a number.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `selectNodes` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as a `List` of `Node` instances or `String` instances depending on the XPath expression.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression, java.lang.String comparisonXPathExpression)` `selectNodes` evaluates an XPath expression then sorts the results using a secondary XPath expression Returns a sorted `List` of `Node` instances.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression, java.lang.String comparisonXPathExpression, boolean removeDuplicates)` `selectNodes` evaluates an XPath expression then sorts the results using a secondary XPath expression Returns a sorted `List` of `Node` instances.
`java.lang.Object`	`selectObject(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `selectObject` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as an `Object`.
`Node`	`selectSingleNode(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `selectSingleNode` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as a single `Node` instance.
`void`	`setDocument(Document document)` `setDocument` sets the document of this node if the parent relationship is supported or does nothing if the parent relationship is not supported.
`void`	`setName(java.lang.String name)` Sets the text data of this node or this method will throw an `UnsupportedOperationException` if it is read-only.
`void`	`setParent(Element parent)` `setParent` sets the parent relationship of this node if the parent relationship is supported or does nothing if the parent relationship is not supported.
`void`	`setText(java.lang.String text)` Sets the text data of this node or this method will throw an `UnsupportedOperationException` if it is read-only.
`boolean`	`supportsParent()` `supportsParent` returns true if this node supports the parent relationship.
`java.lang.String`	`valueOf(java.lang.String xpathExpression)` `valueOf` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the textual representation of the results the XPath string-value of this node.
`void`	`write(java.io.Writer writer)` `write` writes this node as the default XML notation for this node.

- Field Detail
  - ANY_NODE
```
static final short ANY_NODE
```
    Matches Element nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - ELEMENT_NODE
```
static final short ELEMENT_NODE
```
    Matches Element nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - ATTRIBUTE_NODE
```
static final short ATTRIBUTE_NODE
```
    Matches elements nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - TEXT_NODE
```
static final short TEXT_NODE
```
    Matches elements nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - CDATA_SECTION_NODE
```
static final short CDATA_SECTION_NODE
```
    Matches elements nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE
```
static final short ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE
```
    Matches elements nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE
```
static final short PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE
```
    Matches ProcessingInstruction
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - COMMENT_NODE
```
static final short COMMENT_NODE
```
    Matches Comments nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - DOCUMENT_NODE
```
static final short DOCUMENT_NODE
```
    Matches Document nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE
```
static final short DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE
```
    Matches DocumentType nodes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - NAMESPACE_NODE
```
static final short NAMESPACE_NODE
```
    Matchs a Namespace Node - NOTE this differs from DOM
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - UNKNOWN_NODE
```
static final short UNKNOWN_NODE
```
    Does not match any valid node
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
  - MAX_NODE_TYPE
```
static final short MAX_NODE_TYPE
```
    The maximum number of node types for sizing purposes
    
    See Also:
    
    Constant Field Values
- Method Detail
  - supportsParent
```
boolean supportsParent()
```
    supportsParent returns true if this node supports the parent relationship.
    
    Some XML tree implementations are singly linked and only support downward navigation through children relationships. The default case is that both parent and children relationships are supported though for memory and performance reasons the parent relationship may not be supported.
    
    Returns:
    
    true if this node supports the parent relationship or false it is not supported
  - getParent
```
Element getParent()
```
    getParent returns the parent Element if this node supports the parent relationship or null if it is the root element or does not support the parent relationship.
    
    This method is an optional feature and may not be supported for all Node implementations.
    
    Returns:
    
    the parent of this node or null if it is the root of the tree or the parent relationship is not supported.
  - setParent
```
void setParent(Element parent)
```
    setParent sets the parent relationship of this node if the parent relationship is supported or does nothing if the parent relationship is not supported.
    
    This method should only be called from inside an Element implementation method and is not intended for general use.
    
    Parameters:
    
    parent - is the new parent of this node.
  - getDocument
```
Document getDocument()
```
    getDocument returns the Document that this Node is part of if this node supports the parent relationship.
    
    This method is an optional feature and may not be supported for all Node implementations.
    
    Returns:
    
    the document of this node or null if this feature is not supported or the node is not associated with a Document
  - setDocument
```
void setDocument(Document document)
```
    setDocument sets the document of this node if the parent relationship is supported or does nothing if the parent relationship is not supported.
    
    This method should only be called from inside a Document implementation method and is not intended for general use.
    
    Parameters:
    
    document - is the new document of this node.
  - isReadOnly
```
boolean isReadOnly()
```
    isReadOnly returns true if this node is read only and cannot be modified. Any attempt to modify a read-only Node will result in an UnsupportedOperationException being thrown.
    
    Returns:
    
    true if this Node is read only and cannot be modified otherwise false.
  - hasContent
```
boolean hasContent()
```
    hasContent returns true if this node is a Branch (either an Element or a Document) and it contains at least one content node such as a child Element or Text node.
    
    Returns:
    
    true if this Node is a Branch with a nodeCount() of one or more.
  - getName
```
java.lang.String getName()
```
    getName returns the name of this node. This is the XML local name of the element, attribute, entity or processing instruction. For CDATA and Text nodes this method will return null.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XML name of this node
  - setName
```
void setName(java.lang.String name)
```
    Sets the text data of this node or this method will throw an UnsupportedOperationException if it is read-only.
    
    Parameters:
    
    name - is the new name of this node
  - getText
```
java.lang.String getText()
```
    Returns the text of this node.
    
    Returns:
    
    the text for this node.
  - setText
```
void setText(java.lang.String text)
```
    Sets the text data of this node or this method will throw an UnsupportedOperationException if it is read-only.
    
    Parameters:
    
    text - is the new textual value of this node
  - getStringValue
```
java.lang.String getStringValue()
```
    Returns the XPath string-value of this node. The behaviour of this method is defined in the XPath specification .
    
    Returns:
    
    the text from all the child Text and Element nodes appended together.
  - getPath
```
java.lang.String getPath()
```
    Returns the XPath expression which will return a node set containing the given node such as /a/b/@c. No indexing will be used to restrict the path if multiple elements with the same name occur on the path.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XPath expression which will return a nodeset containing at least this node.
  - getPath
```
java.lang.String getPath(Element context)
```
    Returns the relative XPath expression which will return a node set containing the given node such as a/b/@c. No indexing will be used to restrict the path if multiple elements with the same name occur on the path.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is the parent context from which the relative path should start. If the context is null or the context is not an ancestor of this node then the path will be absolute and start from the document and so begin with the '/' character.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XPath expression relative to the given context which will return a nodeset containing at least this node.
  - getUniquePath
```
java.lang.String getUniquePath()
```
    Returns the XPath expression which will return a nodeset of one node which is the current node. This method will use the XPath index operator to restrict the path if multiple elements with the same name occur on the path.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XPath expression which will return a nodeset containing just this node.
  - getUniquePath
```
java.lang.String getUniquePath(Element context)
```
    Returns the relative unique XPath expression from the given context which will return a nodeset of one node which is the current node. This method will use the XPath index operator to restrict the path if multiple elements with the same name occur on the path.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is the parent context from which the path should start. If the context is null or the context is not an ancestor of this node then the path will start from the document and so begin with the '/' character.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XPath expression relative to the given context which will return a nodeset containing just this node.
  - asXML
```
java.lang.String asXML()
```
    asXML returns the textual XML representation of this node.
    
    Returns:
    
    the XML representation of this node
  - write
```
void write(java.io.Writer writer)
    throws java.io.IOException
```
    write writes this node as the default XML notation for this node. If you wish to control the XML output (such as for pretty printing, changing the indentation policy etc.) then please use XMLWriter or its derivations.
    
    Parameters:
    
    writer - is the Writer to output the XML to
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - DOCUMENT ME!
  - getNodeType
```
short getNodeType()
```
    Returns the code according to the type of node. This makes processing nodes polymorphically much easier as the switch statement can be used instead of multiple if (instanceof) statements.
    
    Returns:
    
    a W3C DOM complient code for the node type such as ELEMENT_NODE or ATTRIBUTE_NODE
  - getNodeTypeName
```
java.lang.String getNodeTypeName()
```
    DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    the name of the type of node such as "Document", "Element", "Attribute" or "Text"
  - detach
```
Node detach()
```
    Removes this node from its parent if there is one. If this node is the root element of a document then it is removed from the document as well.
    
    This method is useful if you want to remove a node from its source document and add it to another document. For example
    Node node = ...; Element someOtherElement = ...; someOtherElement.add( node.detach() );
    
    Returns:
    
    the node that has been removed from its parent node if any and its document if any.
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    selectNodes evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as a List of Node instances or String instances depending on the XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    the list of Node or String instances depending on the XPath expression
  - selectObject
```
java.lang.Object selectObject(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    selectObject evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as an Object. The object returned can either be a List of one or more Nodeinstances or a scalar object like a Stringor a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    the value of the XPath expression as a Listof Node instances, a Stringor a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression,
                                 java.lang.String comparisonXPathExpression)
```
    selectNodes evaluates an XPath expression then sorts the results using a secondary XPath expression Returns a sorted List of Node instances.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    comparisonXPathExpression - is the XPath expression used to compare the results by for sorting
    
    Returns:
    
    the list of Node instances sorted by the comparisonXPathExpression
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.String xpathExpression,
                                 java.lang.String comparisonXPathExpression,
                                 boolean removeDuplicates)
```
    selectNodes evaluates an XPath expression then sorts the results using a secondary XPath expression Returns a sorted List of Node instances.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    comparisonXPathExpression - is the XPath expression used to compare the results by for sorting
    
    removeDuplicates - if this parameter is true then duplicate values (using the comparisonXPathExpression) are removed from the result List.
    
    Returns:
    
    the list of Node instances sorted by the comparisonXPathExpression
  - selectSingleNode
```
Node selectSingleNode(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    selectSingleNode evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as a single Node instance.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    the Node matching the XPath expression
  - valueOf
```
java.lang.String valueOf(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    valueOf evaluates an XPath expression and returns the textual representation of the results the XPath string-value of this node. The string-value for a given node type is defined in the XPath specification .
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    the string-value representation of the results of the XPath expression
  - numberValueOf
```
java.lang.Number numberValueOf(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    numberValueOf evaluates an XPath expression and returns the numeric value of the XPath expression if the XPath expression results in a number, or null if the result is not a number.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    the numeric result of the XPath expression or null if the result is not a number.
  - matches
```
boolean matches(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
```
    matches returns true if evaluating the given XPath expression on this node returns a non-empty node set containing this node.
    
    This method does not behave like the <xsl:if> element - if you want that behaviour, to evaluate if an XPath expression matches something, then you can use the following code to be equivalent...
    if ( node.selectSingleNode( "/some/path" ) != nulll )
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is an XPath expression
    
    Returns:
    
    true if this node is returned by the given XPath expression
  - createXPath
```
XPath createXPath(java.lang.String xpathExpression)
           throws InvalidXPathException
```
    createXPath creates an XPath object for the given xpathExpression. The XPath object allows the variable context to be specified.
    
    Parameters:
    
    xpathExpression - is the XPath expression to be evaluated
    
    Returns:
    
    an XPath object represeting the given expression
    
    Throws:
    
    InvalidXPathException - if the XPath expression is invalid
  - asXPathResult
```
Node asXPathResult(Element parent)
```
    asXPathResult returns a version of this node which is capable of being an XPath result. The result of an XPath expression should always support the parent relationship, whether the original XML tree was singly or doubly linked. If the node does not support the parent relationship then a new node will be created which is linked to its parent and returned.
    
    Parameters:
    
    parent - DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    a Node which supports the parent relationship
  - accept
```
void accept(Visitor visitor)
```
    accept is the method used in the Visitor Pattern.
    
    Parameters:
    
    visitor - is the visitor in the Visitor Pattern
  - clone
```
java.lang.Object clone()
```
    clone will return a deep clone or if this node is read-only then clone will return the same instance.
    
    Returns:
    
    a deep clone of myself or myself if I am read only.

Interface Node

Field Summary

Method Summary

Field Detail

ANY_NODE

ELEMENT_NODE

ATTRIBUTE_NODE

TEXT_NODE

CDATA_SECTION_NODE

ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE

PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE

COMMENT_NODE

DOCUMENT_NODE

DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE

NAMESPACE_NODE

UNKNOWN_NODE

MAX_NODE_TYPE

Method Detail

supportsParent

getParent

setParent

getDocument

setDocument

isReadOnly

hasContent

getName

setName

getText

setText

getStringValue

getPath

getPath

getUniquePath

getUniquePath

asXML

write

getNodeType

getNodeTypeName

detach

selectNodes

selectObject

selectNodes

selectNodes

selectSingleNode

valueOf

numberValueOf

matches

createXPath

asXPathResult

accept

clone