org.apache.xerces.dom
Class DeferredEntityReferenceImpl

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.xerces.dom.NodeImpl
      org.apache.xerces.dom.ChildNode
          org.apache.xerces.dom.ParentNode
              org.apache.xerces.dom.EntityReferenceImpl
                  org.apache.xerces.dom.DeferredEntityReferenceImpl

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.io.Serializable, java.lang.Cloneable, DeferredNode, EntityReference, EventTarget, Node, NodeList

public class DeferredEntityReferenceImpl
extends EntityReferenceImpl
implements DeferredNode

EntityReference models the XML &entityname; syntax, when used for entities defined by the DOM. Entities hardcoded into XML, such as character entities, should instead have been translated into text by the code which generated the DOM tree.

An XML processor has the alternative of fully expanding Entities into the normal document tree. If it does so, no EntityReference nodes will appear.

Similarly, non-validating XML processors are not required to read or process entity declarations made in the external subset or declared in external parameter entities. Hence, some applications may not make the replacement value available for Parsed Entities of these types.

EntityReference behaves as a read-only node, and the children of the EntityReference (which reflect those of the Entity, and should also be read-only) give its replacement value, if any. They are supposed to automagically stay in synch if the DocumentType is updated with new values for the Entity.

The defined behavior makes efficient storage difficult for the DOM implementor. We can't just look aside to the Entity's definition in the DocumentType since those nodes have the wrong parent (unless we can come up with a clever "imaginary parent" mechanism). We must at least appear to clone those children... which raises the issue of keeping the reference synchronized with its parent. This leads me back to the "cached image of centrally defined data" solution, much as I dislike it.

For now I have decided, since REC-DOM-Level-1-19980818 doesn't cover this in much detail, that synchronization doesn't have to be considered while the user is deep in the tree. That is, if you're looking within one of the EntityReferennce's children and the Entity changes, you won't be informed; instead, you will continue to access the same object -- which may or may not still be part of the tree. This is the same behavior that obtains elsewhere in the DOM if the subtree you're looking at is deleted from its parent, so it's acceptable here. (If it really bothers folks, we could set things up so deleted subtrees are walked and marked invalid, but that's not part of the DOM's defined behavior.)

As a result, only the EntityReference itself has to be aware of changes in the Entity. And it can take advantage of the same structure-change-monitoring code I implemented to support DeepNodeList.

Since:

PR-DOM-Level-1-19980818.

Version:

$Id: DeferredEntityReferenceImpl.java 447266 2006-09-18 05:57:49Z mrglavas $

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class org.apache.xerces.dom.NodeImpl

DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS, DOCUMENT_POSITION_DISCONNECTED, DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING, DOCUMENT_POSITION_IMPLEMENTATION_SPECIFIC, DOCUMENT_POSITION_IS_CONTAINED, DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING, ELEMENT_DEFINITION_NODE, TREE_POSITION_ANCESTOR, TREE_POSITION_DESCENDANT, TREE_POSITION_DISCONNECTED, TREE_POSITION_EQUIVALENT, TREE_POSITION_FOLLOWING, TREE_POSITION_PRECEDING, TREE_POSITION_SAME_NODE

Fields inherited from interface org.apache.xerces.dom.DeferredNode

TYPE_NODE

Fields inherited from interface org.w3c.dom.Node

ATTRIBUTE_NODE, CDATA_SECTION_NODE, COMMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_NODE, DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINED_BY, DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS, DOCUMENT_POSITION_DISCONNECTED, DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING, DOCUMENT_POSITION_IMPLEMENTATION_SPECIFIC, DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING, DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE, ELEMENT_NODE, ENTITY_NODE, ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE, NOTATION_NODE, PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE, TEXT_NODE

Method Summary

int	getNodeIndex() Returns the node index.

Methods inherited from class org.apache.xerces.dom.EntityReferenceImpl

cloneNode, getBaseURI, getNodeName, getNodeType, setBaseURI, setReadOnly

Methods inherited from class org.apache.xerces.dom.ParentNode

getChildNodes, getFirstChild, getLastChild, getLength, getOwnerDocument, getTextContent, hasChildNodes, insertBefore, isEqualNode, item, normalize, removeChild, replaceChild, setTextContent

Methods inherited from class org.apache.xerces.dom.ChildNode

getNextSibling, getParentNode, getPreviousSibling

Methods inherited from class org.apache.xerces.dom.NodeImpl

addEventListener, appendChild, compareDocumentPosition, compareTreePosition, dispatchEvent, getAttributes, getFeature, getLocalName, getNamespaceURI, getNodeValue, getPrefix, getReadOnly, getUserData, getUserData, hasAttributes, isDefaultNamespace, isSameNode, isSupported, lookupNamespaceURI, lookupPrefix, needsSyncChildren, removeEventListener, setNodeValue, setPrefix, setUserData, setUserData, toString

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Methods inherited from interface org.w3c.dom.Node

appendChild, cloneNode, compareDocumentPosition, getAttributes, getBaseURI, getChildNodes, getFeature, getFirstChild, getLastChild, getLocalName, getNamespaceURI, getNextSibling, getNodeName, getNodeType, getNodeValue, getOwnerDocument, getParentNode, getPrefix, getPreviousSibling, getTextContent, getUserData, hasAttributes, hasChildNodes, insertBefore, isDefaultNamespace, isEqualNode, isSameNode, isSupported, lookupNamespaceURI, lookupPrefix, normalize, removeChild, replaceChild, setNodeValue, setPrefix, setTextContent, setUserData

Method Detail

getNodeIndex

public int getNodeIndex()

Returns the node index.

Specified by:

getNodeIndex in interface DeferredNode