org.dom4j.tree
Class AbstractEntity

java.lang.Object
  org.dom4j.tree.AbstractNode
      org.dom4j.tree.AbstractEntity

All Implemented Interfaces:

Cloneable, Entity, Node, Serializable

Direct Known Subclasses:

FlyweightEntity

public abstract class AbstractEntity

extends AbstractNode

implements Entity

AbstractEntity is an abstract base class for tree implementors to use for implementation inheritence.

Version:

$Revision: 1.15 $

Author:

James Strachan

See Also:

Serialized Form

AbstractEntity

public AbstractEntity()

getNodeType

public short getNodeType()

Description copied from interface: Node

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.

Specified by:

getNodeType in interface Node

Overrides:

getNodeType in class AbstractNode

getPath

public String getPath(Element context)

Description copied from interface: Node

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.

Specified by:

getPath in interface Node

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

public String getUniquePath(Element context)

Description copied from interface: Node

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.

Specified by:

getUniquePath in interface Node

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.

toString

public String toString()

getStringValue

public String getStringValue()

Description copied from interface: Node

Returns the XPath string-value of this node. The behaviour of this method is defined in the XPath specification .

Specified by:

getStringValue in interface Node

Overrides:

getStringValue in class AbstractNode

asXML

public String asXML()

Description copied from interface: Node

asXML returns the textual XML representation of this node.

Specified by:

asXML in interface Node

Returns:

the XML representation of this node

write

public void write(Writer writer)
           throws IOException

Description copied from interface: Node

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.

Specified by:

write in interface Node

Overrides:

write in class AbstractNode

Throws:

IOException

accept

public void accept(Visitor visitor)

Description copied from interface: Node

accept is the method used in the Visitor Pattern.

Specified by:

accept in interface Node

Parameters:

visitor - is the visitor in the Visitor Pattern