public interface

CharacterData

implements Node
org.w3c.dom.CharacterData
Known Indirect Subclasses

Class Overview

The CharacterData interface extends Node with a set of attributes and methods for accessing character data in the DOM. For clarity this set is defined here rather than on each object that uses these attributes and methods. No DOM objects correspond directly to CharacterData, though Text and others do inherit the interface from it. All offsets in this interface start from 0.

As explained in the DOMString interface, text strings in the DOM are represented in UTF-16, i.e. as a sequence of 16-bit units. In the following, the term 16-bit units is used whenever necessary to indicate that indexing on CharacterData is done in 16-bit units.

See also the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Core Specification.

Summary

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Inherited Constants
From interface org.w3c.dom.Node
Public Methods
abstract void appendData(String arg)
Append the string to the end of the character data of the node.
abstract void deleteData(int offset, int count)
Remove a range of 16-bit units from the node.
abstract String getData()
Returns the character data of the node that implements this interface.
abstract int getLength()
The number of 16-bit units that are available through data and the substringData method below.
abstract void insertData(int offset, String arg)
Insert a string at the specified 16-bit unit offset.
abstract void replaceData(int offset, int count, String arg)
Replace the characters starting at the specified 16-bit unit offset with the specified string.
abstract void setData(String data)
Sets the character data of the node that implements this interface.
abstract String substringData(int offset, int count)
Extracts a range of data from the node.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From interface org.w3c.dom.Node

Public Methods

public abstract void appendData (String arg)

Since: API Level 1

Append the string to the end of the character data of the node. Upon success, data provides access to the concatenation of data and the DOMString specified.

Parameters
arg The DOMString to append.
Throws
DOMException NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

public abstract void deleteData (int offset, int count)

Since: API Level 1

Remove a range of 16-bit units from the node. Upon success, data and length reflect the change.

Parameters
offset The offset from which to start removing.
count The number of 16-bit units to delete. If the sum of offset and count exceeds length then all 16-bit units from offset to the end of the data are deleted.
Throws
DOMException INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater than the number of 16-bit units in data, or if the specified count is negative.
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

public abstract String getData ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns the character data of the node that implements this interface. The DOM implementation may not put arbitrary limits on the amount of data that may be stored in a CharacterData node. However, implementation limits may mean that the entirety of a node's data may not fit into a single DOMString. In such cases, the user may call substringData to retrieve the data in appropriately sized pieces.

Returns
  • the character data as a string.
Throws
DOMException DOMSTRING_SIZE_ERR: Raised when it would return more characters than fit in a DOMString variable on the implementation platform.

public abstract int getLength ()

Since: API Level 1

The number of 16-bit units that are available through data and the substringData method below. This may have the value zero, i.e., CharacterData nodes may be empty.

Returns
  • the length in characters.

public abstract void insertData (int offset, String arg)

Since: API Level 1

Insert a string at the specified 16-bit unit offset.

Parameters
offset The character offset at which to insert.
arg The DOMString to insert.
Throws
DOMException INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater than the number of 16-bit units in data.
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

public abstract void replaceData (int offset, int count, String arg)

Since: API Level 1

Replace the characters starting at the specified 16-bit unit offset with the specified string.

Parameters
offset The offset from which to start replacing.
count The number of 16-bit units to replace. If the sum of offset and count exceeds length, then all 16-bit units to the end of the data are replaced; (i.e., the effect is the same as a remove method call with the same range, followed by an append method invocation).
arg The DOMString with which the range must be replaced.
Throws
DOMException INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater than the number of 16-bit units in data, or if the specified count is negative.
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

public abstract void setData (String data)

Since: API Level 1

Sets the character data of the node that implements this interface. The DOM implementation may not put arbitrary limits on the amount of data that may be stored in a CharacterData node. However, implementation limits may mean that the entirety of a node's data may not fit into a single DOMString. In such cases, the user may call substringData to retrieve the data in appropriately sized pieces.

Parameters
data the new character data.
Throws
DOMException NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised when the node is readonly.

public abstract String substringData (int offset, int count)

Since: API Level 1

Extracts a range of data from the node.

Parameters
offset Start offset of substring to extract.
count The number of 16-bit units to extract.
Returns
  • The specified substring. If the sum of offset and count exceeds the length, then all 16-bit units to the end of the data are returned.
Throws
DOMException INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater than the number of 16-bit units in data, or if the specified count is negative.
DOMSTRING_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified range of text does not fit into a DOMString.