net.jxta.document
Interface Element

All Known Subinterfaces:

StructuredDocument, StructuredTextDocument, TextElement

public interface Element

An element represents a portion of a StructuredDocument. An element is identifiable by a key and may optionally have a value. Each element also maintains a collection of references to other elements, its children. Elmenents can be composed into arbitrary hierarchical structures forming complex data structures. Element instances are always associated with a StructuredDocument. A StructuredDocument is a specialized form of element with additional features that make it appropriate for acting as the root of a hierarchy of elements.

Since:

JXTA 1.0

Version:

$Revision: 1.13 $

See Also:

Document, StructuredDocument, StructuredDocumentFactory, StructuredTextDocument, TextElement

Method Summary

void	appendChild(Element element) Add a child element to this element.
java.util.Enumeration	getChildren() Returns an enumeration of the immediate children of this element
java.util.Enumeration	getChildren(java.lang.Object key) Returns an enumeration of the immediate children of this element whose name match the specified string.
java.lang.Object	getKey() Get the name associated with an element.
Element	getParent() Get the parent element of this element.
StructuredDocument	getRoot() Get the root element of the hierarchy this element belongs to.
java.lang.Object	getValue() Get the value (if any) associated with an element.

Method Detail

getKey

public java.lang.Object getKey()

Get the name associated with an element.

Returns:

Object A string containing the key of this element.

Since:

JXTA 1.0

getValue

public java.lang.Object getValue()

Get the value (if any) associated with an element.

Returns:

Object A string containing the value of this element, if any, otherwise null.

Since:

JXTA 1.0

getRoot

public StructuredDocument getRoot()

Get the root element of the hierarchy this element belongs to.

Returns:

StructuredDocument root of this element's hierarchy.

Since:

JXTA 1.0

getParent

public Element getParent()

Get the parent element of this element. If the element has not been inserted into the Document then null is returned. If this element is the root of the Document then it returns itself.

Returns:

Element parent of this element

Since:

JXTA 1.0

appendChild

public void appendChild(Element element)

Add a child element to this element. The child element must be from the document as the element it is to be added to.

Parameters:

element - the element to be added as a child

Since:

JXTA 1.0

getChildren

public java.util.Enumeration getChildren()

Returns an enumeration of the immediate children of this element

Returns:

Enumeration An enumeration containing all of the children of this element.

Since:

JXTA 1.0

getChildren

public java.util.Enumeration getChildren(java.lang.Object key)

Returns an enumeration of the immediate children of this element whose name match the specified string.

Parameters:

key - The key which will be matched against.

Returns:

Enumeration enumeration containing all of the children of this element.

Since:

JXTA 1.0