public interface

Node

org.w3c.dom.Node
Known Indirect Subclasses

Class Overview

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.

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

Summary

Constants
short ATTRIBUTE_NODE The node is an Attr.
short CDATA_SECTION_NODE The node is a CDATASection.
short COMMENT_NODE The node is a Comment.
short DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE The node is a DocumentFragment.
short DOCUMENT_NODE The node is a Document.
short DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE The node is a DocumentType.
short ELEMENT_NODE The node is an Element.
short ENTITY_NODE The node is an Entity.
short ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE The node is an EntityReference.
short NOTATION_NODE The node is a Notation.
short PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE The node is a ProcessingInstruction.
short TEXT_NODE The node is a Text node.
Public Methods
abstract Node appendChild(Node newChild)
Adds the node newChild to the end of the list of children of this node.
abstract Node cloneNode(boolean deep)
Returns a duplicate of this node, i.e., serves as a generic copy constructor for nodes.
abstract NamedNodeMap getAttributes()
A NamedNodeMap containing the attributes of this node (if it is an Element) or null otherwise.
abstract NodeList getChildNodes()
A NodeList that contains all children of this node.
abstract Node getFirstChild()
The first child of this node.
abstract Node getLastChild()
The last child of this node.
abstract String getLocalName()
Returns the local part of the qualified name of this node.
abstract String getNamespaceURI()
The namespace URI of this node, or null if it is unspecified.
abstract Node getNextSibling()
The node immediately following this node.
abstract String getNodeName()
The name of this node, depending on its type; see the table above.
abstract short getNodeType()
A code representing the type of the underlying object, as defined above.
abstract String getNodeValue()
Returns the value of this node, depending on its type; see the table above.
abstract Document getOwnerDocument()
The Document object associated with this node.
abstract Node getParentNode()
The parent of this node.
abstract String getPrefix()
Returns the namespace prefix of this node, or null if it is unspecified.
abstract Node getPreviousSibling()
The node immediately preceding this node.
abstract boolean hasAttributes()
Returns whether this node (if it is an element) has any attributes.
abstract boolean hasChildNodes()
Returns whether this node has any children.
abstract Node insertBefore(Node newChild, Node refChild)
Inserts the node newChild before the existing child node refChild.
abstract boolean isSupported(String feature, String version)
Tests whether the DOM implementation implements a specific feature and that feature is supported by this node.
abstract void normalize()
Puts all Text nodes in the full depth of the sub-tree underneath this Node, including attribute nodes, into a "normal" form where only structure (e.g., elements, comments, processing instructions, CDATA sections, and entity references) separates Text nodes, i.e., there are neither adjacent Text nodes nor empty Text nodes.
abstract Node removeChild(Node oldChild)
Removes the child node indicated by oldChild from the list of children, and returns it.
abstract Node replaceChild(Node newChild, Node oldChild)
Replaces the child node oldChild with newChild in the list of children, and returns the oldChild node.
abstract void setNodeValue(String nodeValue)
Sets the value of this node, depending on its type; see the table above.
abstract void setPrefix(String prefix)
Sets the namespace prefix of this node.

Constants

public static final short ATTRIBUTE_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is an Attr.

Constant Value: 2 (0x00000002)

public static final short CDATA_SECTION_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a CDATASection.

Constant Value: 4 (0x00000004)

public static final short COMMENT_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a Comment.

Constant Value: 8 (0x00000008)

public static final short DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a DocumentFragment.

Constant Value: 11 (0x0000000b)

public static final short DOCUMENT_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a Document.

Constant Value: 9 (0x00000009)

public static final short DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a DocumentType.

Constant Value: 10 (0x0000000a)

public static final short ELEMENT_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is an Element.

Constant Value: 1 (0x00000001)

public static final short ENTITY_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is an Entity.

Constant Value: 6 (0x00000006)

public static final short ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is an EntityReference.

Constant Value: 5 (0x00000005)

public static final short NOTATION_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a Notation.

Constant Value: 12 (0x0000000c)

public static final short PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a ProcessingInstruction.

Constant Value: 7 (0x00000007)

public static final short TEXT_NODE

Since: API Level 1

The node is a Text node.

Constant Value: 3 (0x00000003)

Public Methods

public abstract Node appendChild (Node newChild)

Since: API Level 1

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
DOMException 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.

public abstract Node cloneNode (boolean deep)

Since: API Level 1

Returns a duplicate of this node, i.e., serves as a generic copy constructor for nodes. The duplicate node has no parent; ( parentNode is 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 an Attribute directly, as opposed to be cloned as part of an Element cloning operation, returns a specified attribute ( specified is true). Cloning any other type of node simply returns a copy of this node.
Note that cloning an immutable subtree results in a mutable copy, but the children of an EntityReference clone are readonly . In addition, clones of unspecified Attr nodes are specified. And, cloning Document, DocumentType, Entity, and Notation nodes is implementation dependent.

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.

public abstract NamedNodeMap getAttributes ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the attributes of the node, which may be an empty map, or null, if this the node cannot have any attributes.

public abstract NodeList getChildNodes ()

Since: API Level 1

A NodeList that contains all children of this node. If there are no children, this is a NodeList containing no nodes.

Returns
  • the list of children, which may be empty.

public abstract Node getFirstChild ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the first child of the node, if any.

public abstract Node getLastChild ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the last child of the node, if any.

public abstract String getLocalName ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns the local part of the qualified name of this node.
For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE and nodes created with a DOM Level 1 method, such as createElement from the Document interface, this is always null.

Returns
  • the local name, if any.

public abstract String getNamespaceURI ()

Since: API Level 1

The namespace URI of this node, or null if it is unspecified.
This is not a computed value that is the result of a namespace lookup based on an examination of the namespace declarations in scope. It is merely the namespace URI given at creation time.
For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE and nodes created with a DOM Level 1 method, such as createElement from the Document interface, this is always null.Per the Namespaces in XML Specification an attribute does not inherit its namespace from the element it is attached to. If an attribute is not explicitly given a namespace, it simply has no namespace.

Returns
  • the namespace URI, if any.

public abstract Node getNextSibling ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the following node, if any.

public abstract String getNodeName ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the name of the node.

public abstract short getNodeType ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the type of the node.

public abstract String getNodeValue ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the value of the node.
Throws
DOMException DOMSTRING_SIZE_ERR: Raised when it would return more characters than fit in a DOMString variable on the implementation platform.

public abstract Document getOwnerDocument ()

Since: API Level 1

The Document object associated with this node. This is also the Document object used to create new nodes. When this node is a Document or a DocumentType which is not used with any Document yet, this is null.

Returns
  • the document this node belongs to, if any.

public abstract Node getParentNode ()

Since: API Level 1

The parent of this node. All nodes, except Attr, Document, DocumentFragment, Entity, and Notation 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.

Returns
  • the parent node, if any.

public abstract String getPrefix ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns the namespace prefix of this node, or null if it is unspecified.
For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE and nodes created with a DOM Level 1 method, such as createElement from the Document interface, this is always null.

Returns
  • the namespace prefix, if any.
Throws
DOMException

public abstract Node getPreviousSibling ()

Since: API Level 1

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

Returns
  • the preceding node, if any.

public abstract boolean hasAttributes ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns whether this node (if it is an element) has any attributes.

Returns
  • true if this node has any attributes, false otherwise.

public abstract boolean hasChildNodes ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns whether this node has any children.

Returns
  • true if this node has any children, false otherwise.

public abstract Node insertBefore (Node newChild, Node refChild)

Since: API Level 1

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
DOMException 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 or if the parent of the node being inserted is readonly.
NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if refChild is not a child of this node.

public abstract boolean isSupported (String feature, String version)

Since: API Level 1

Tests whether the DOM implementation implements a specific feature and that feature is supported by this node.

Parameters
feature The name of the feature to test. This is the same name which can be passed to the method hasFeature on DOMImplementation.
version This is the version number of the feature to test. In Level 2, version 1, this is the string "2.0". If the version is not specified, supporting any version of the feature will cause the method to return true.
Returns
  • Returns true if the specified feature is supported on this node, false otherwise.

public abstract void normalize ()

Since: API Level 1

Puts all Text nodes in the full depth of the sub-tree underneath this Node, including attribute nodes, into a "normal" form where only structure (e.g., elements, comments, processing instructions, CDATA sections, and entity references) separates Text nodes, i.e., there are neither adjacent Text nodes nor empty Text nodes. This can be used to ensure that the DOM view of a document is the same as if it were saved and re-loaded, and is useful when operations (such as XPointer lookups) that depend on a particular document tree structure are to be used.In cases where the document contains CDATASections, the normalize operation alone may not be sufficient, since XPointers do not differentiate between Text nodes and CDATASection nodes.

public abstract Node removeChild (Node oldChild)

Since: API Level 1

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

public abstract Node replaceChild (Node newChild, Node oldChild)

Since: API Level 1

Replaces the child node oldChild with newChild in the list of children, and returns the oldChild node.
If newChild is a DocumentFragment object, oldChild is replaced by all of the DocumentFragment children, which are inserted in the same order. 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
DOMException 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 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 or the parent of the new node is readonly.
NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if oldChild is not a child of this node.

public abstract void setNodeValue (String nodeValue)

Since: API Level 1

Sets the value of this node, depending on its type; see the table above. When it is defined to be null, setting it has no effect.

Parameters
nodeValue the new value of the node.
Throws
DOMException NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised when the node is readonly.

public abstract void setPrefix (String prefix)

Since: API Level 1

Sets the namespace prefix of this node.
Note that setting this attribute, when permitted, changes the nodeName attribute, which holds the qualified name, as well as the tagName and name attributes of the Element and Attr interfaces, when applicable.
Note also that changing the prefix of an attribute that is known to have a default value, does not make a new attribute with the default value and the original prefix appear, since the namespaceURI and localName do not change.
For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE and nodes created with a DOM Level 1 method, such as createElement from the Document interface, this is always null.

Parameters
prefix the new namespace prefix.
Throws
DOMException INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified prefix contains an illegal character.
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.
NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the specified prefix is malformed, if the namespaceURI of this node is null, if the specified prefix is "xml" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from " http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", if this node is an attribute and the specified prefix is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from " http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/", or if this node is an attribute and the qualifiedName of this node is "xmlns" .