Interface org.xml.sax.AttributeList

Implementing Classes:

SAXDriver, AttributeListImpl

public interface AttributeList

The SAX parser implements this interface and passes an instance to the SAX application as the second argument of each startElement event.

The instance provided will return valid results only during the scope of the startElement invocation (to save it for future use, the application must make a copy: the AttributeListImpl helper class provides a convenient constructor for doing so).

An AttributeList includes only attributes that have been specified or defaulted: #IMPLIED attributes will not be included.

There are two ways for the SAX application to obtain information from the AttributeList. First, it can iterate through the entire list:

 public void startElement (String name, AttributeList atts) {
   for (int i = 0; i < atts.getLength(); i++) {
     String name = atts.getName(i);
     String type = atts.getType(i);
     String value = atts.getValue(i);
     [...]
   }
 }
 

(Note that the result of getLength() will be zero if there are no attributes.)

As an alternative, the application can request the value or type of specific attributes:

 public void startElement (String name, AttributeList atts) {
   String identifier = atts.getValue("id");
   String label = atts.getValue("label");
   [...]
 }
 

The AttributeListImpl helper class provides a convenience implementation for use by parser or application writers.

Version:

Revision: 22 1.3 src/org/xml/sax/AttributeList.java, xml4jsrc, xml4j-jtcsv, xml4j_1_0_4

See Also:

startElement, AttributeListImpl

Method Summary
int	getLength() Return the number of attributes in this list.
java.lang.String	getName(int i) Return the name of an attribute in this list (by position).
java.lang.String	getType(int i) Return the type of an attribute in the list (by position).
java.lang.String	getType(java.lang.String name) Return the type of an attribute in the list (by name).
java.lang.String	getValue(int i) Return the value of an attribute in the list (by position).
java.lang.String	getValue(java.lang.String name) Return the value of an attribute in the list (by name).

 

Method Detail

getLength

public int getLength()

Return the number of attributes in this list.

The SAX parser may provide attributes in any arbitrary order, regardless of the order in which they were declared or specified. The number of attributes may be zero.

Returns:

The number of attributes in the list.

getName

public java.lang.String getName(int i)

Return the name of an attribute in this list (by position).

The names must be unique: the SAX parser shall not include the same attribute twice. Attributes without values (those declared #IMPLIED without a value specified in the start tag) will be omitted from the list.

If the attribute name has a namespace prefix, the prefix will still be attached.

Parameters:

i - The index of the attribute in the list (starting at 0).

Returns:

The name of the indexed attribute, or null if the index is out of range.

See Also:

getLength

getType

public java.lang.String getType(int i)

Return the type of an attribute in the list (by position).

The attribute type is one of the strings "CDATA", "ID", "IDREF", "IDREFS", "NMTOKEN", "NMTOKENS", "ENTITY", "ENTITIES", or "NOTATION" (always in upper case).

If the parser has not read a declaration for the attribute, or if the parser does not report attribute types, then it must return the value "CDATA" as stated in the XML 1.0 Recommentation (clause 3.3.3, "Attribute-Value Normalization").

For an enumerated attribute that is not a notation, the parser will report the type as "NMTOKEN".

Parameters:

i - The index of the attribute in the list (starting at 0).

Returns:

The attribute type as a string, or null if the index is out of range.

See Also:

getLength, getType(java.lang.String)

getValue

public java.lang.String getValue(int i)

Return the value of an attribute in the list (by position).

If the attribute value is a list of tokens (IDREFS, ENTITIES, or NMTOKENS), the tokens will be concatenated into a single string separated by whitespace.

Parameters:

i - The index of the attribute in the list (starting at 0).

Returns:

The attribute value as a string, or null if the index is out of range.

See Also:

getLength, getValue(java.lang.String)

getType

public java.lang.String getType(java.lang.String name)

Return the type of an attribute in the list (by name).

The return value is the same as the return value for getType(int).

If the attribute name has a namespace prefix in the document, the application must include the prefix here.

Parameters:

name - The name of the attribute.

Returns:

The attribute type as a string, or null if no such attribute exists.

See Also:

getType(int)

getValue

public java.lang.String getValue(java.lang.String name)

Return the value of an attribute in the list (by name).

The return value is the same as the return value for getValue(int).

If the attribute name has a namespace prefix in the document, the application must include the prefix here.

Parameters:

i - The index of the attribute in the list.

Returns:

The attribute value as a string, or null if no such attribute exists.

See Also:

getValue(int)