FileDocCategorySizeDatePackage
DocumentBuilderFactory.javaAPI DocJava SE 5 API20627Fri Aug 26 14:58:22 BST 2005javax.xml.parsers

DocumentBuilderFactory

public abstract class DocumentBuilderFactory extends Object
Defines a factory API that enables applications to obtain a parser that produces DOM object trees from XML documents.
author
Jeff Suttor
version
$Revision: 1.39.16.1 $, $Date: 2004/07/17 00:22:03 $

Fields Summary
private static final String
DEFAULT_PROPERTY_NAME
The default property name according to the JAXP spec
private boolean
validating
private boolean
namespaceAware
private boolean
whitespace
private boolean
expandEntityRef
private boolean
ignoreComments
private boolean
coalescing
private boolean
canonicalState
Constructors Summary
protected DocumentBuilderFactory()

    
       
    
Methods Summary
public abstract java.lang.ObjectgetAttribute(java.lang.String name)
Allows the user to retrieve specific attributes on the underlying implementation.

param
name The name of the attribute.
return
value The value of the attribute.
exception
IllegalArgumentException thrown if the underlying implementation doesn't recognize the attribute.

public abstract booleangetFeature(java.lang.String name)

Get the state of the named feature.

Feature names are fully qualified {@link java.net.URI}s. Implementations may define their own features. An {@link ParserConfigurationException} is thrown if this DocumentBuilderFactory or the DocumentBuilders it creates cannot support the feature. It is possible for an DocumentBuilderFactory to expose a feature value but be unable to change its state.

param
name Feature name.
return
State of the named feature.
throws
ParserConfigurationException if this DocumentBuilderFactory or the DocumentBuilders it creates cannot support this feature.

public javax.xml.validation.SchemagetSchema()
Gets the {@link Schema} object specified through the {@link #setSchema(Schema schema)} method.

throws
UnsupportedOperationException For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.
return
the {@link Schema} object that was last set through the {@link #setSchema(Schema)} method, or null if the method was not invoked since a {@link SAXParserFactory} is created.
since
1.5

        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
            "This parser does not support specification \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationTitle()
            + "\" version \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationVersion()
            + "\""
            );

    
public booleanisCoalescing()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which converts CDATA nodes to Text nodes and appends it to the adjacent (if any) Text node.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which converts CDATA nodes to Text nodes and appends it to the adjacent (if any) Text node; false otherwise.

        return coalescing;
    
public booleanisExpandEntityReferences()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which expand entity reference nodes.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which expand entity reference nodes; false otherwise.

        return expandEntityRef;
    
public booleanisIgnoringComments()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which ignores comments.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which ignores comments; false otherwise.

        return ignoreComments;
    
public booleanisIgnoringElementContentWhitespace()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which ignore ignorable whitespace in element content.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which ignore ignorable whitespace in element content; false otherwise.

        return whitespace;
    
public booleanisNamespaceAware()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which are namespace aware.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which are namespace aware; false otherwise.

        return namespaceAware;
    
public booleanisValidating()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which validate the XML content during parse.

return
true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which validate the XML content during parse; false otherwise.

        return validating;
    
public booleanisXIncludeAware()

Get state of XInclude processing.

return
current state of XInclude processing
throws
UnsupportedOperationException For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.
since
1.5

        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
            "This parser does not support specification \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationTitle()
            + "\" version \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationVersion()
            + "\""
            );
    
public abstract javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuildernewDocumentBuilder()
Creates a new instance of a {@link javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder} using the currently configured parameters.

exception
ParserConfigurationException if a DocumentBuilder cannot be created which satisfies the configuration requested.
return
A new instance of a DocumentBuilder.

public static javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactorynewInstance()
Obtain a new instance of a DocumentBuilderFactory. This static method creates a new factory instance. This method uses the following ordered lookup procedure to determine the DocumentBuilderFactory implementation class to load:
  • Use the javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory system property.
  • Use the properties file "lib/jaxp.properties" in the JRE directory. This configuration file is in standard java.util.Properties format and contains the fully qualified name of the implementation class with the key being the system property defined above. The jaxp.properties file is read only once by the JAXP implementation and it's values are then cached for future use. If the file does not exist when the first attempt is made to read from it, no further attempts are made to check for its existence. It is not possible to change the value of any property in jaxp.properties after it has been read for the first time.
  • Use the Services API (as detailed in the JAR specification), if available, to determine the classname. The Services API will look for a classname in the file META-INF/services/javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory in jars available to the runtime.
  • Platform default DocumentBuilderFactory instance.
Once an application has obtained a reference to a DocumentBuilderFactory it can use the factory to configure and obtain parser instances.

Tip for Trouble-shooting

Setting the jaxp.debug system property will cause this method to print a lot of debug messages to System.err about what it is doing and where it is looking at.

If you have problems loading {@link DocumentBuilder}s, try:

java -Djaxp.debug=1 YourProgram ....

return
New instance of a DocumentBuilderFactory
exception
FactoryConfigurationError if the implementation is not available or cannot be instantiated.

        try {
            return (DocumentBuilderFactory) FactoryFinder.find(
                /* The default property name according to the JAXP spec */
                "javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory",
                /* The fallback implementation class name */
                "com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl");
        } catch (FactoryFinder.ConfigurationError e) {
            throw new FactoryConfigurationError(e.getException(),
                                                e.getMessage());
        }

    
public abstract voidsetAttribute(java.lang.String name, java.lang.Object value)
Allows the user to set specific attributes on the underlying implementation.

param
name The name of the attribute.
param
value The value of the attribute.
exception
IllegalArgumentException thrown if the underlying implementation doesn't recognize the attribute.

public voidsetCoalescing(boolean coalescing)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will convert CDATA nodes to Text nodes and append it to the adjacent (if any) text node. By default the value of this is set to false

param
coalescing true if the parser produced will convert CDATA nodes to Text nodes and append it to the adjacent (if any) text node; false otherwise.

        this.coalescing = coalescing;
    
public voidsetExpandEntityReferences(boolean expandEntityRef)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will expand entity reference nodes. By default the value of this is set to true

param
expandEntityRef true if the parser produced will expand entity reference nodes; false otherwise.

        this.expandEntityRef = expandEntityRef;
    
public abstract voidsetFeature(java.lang.String name, boolean value)

Set a feature for this DocumentBuilderFactory and DocumentBuilders created by this factory.

Feature names are fully qualified {@link java.net.URI}s. Implementations may define their own features. An {@link ParserConfigurationException} is thrown if this DocumentBuilderFactory or the DocumentBuilders it creates cannot support the feature. It is possible for an DocumentBuilderFactory to expose a feature value but be unable to change its state.

All implementations are required to support the {@link javax.xml.XMLConstants#FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING} feature. When the feature is:

  • true: the implementation will limit XML processing to conform to implementation limits. Examples include enity expansion limits and XML Schema constructs that would consume large amounts of resources. If XML processing is limited for security reasons, it will be reported via a call to the registered {@link org.xml.sax.ErrorHandler#fatalError(SAXParseException exception)}. See {@link DocumentBuilder#setErrorHandler(org.xml.sax.ErrorHandler errorHandler)}.
  • false: the implementation will processing XML according to the XML specifications without regard to possible implementation limits.

param
name Feature name.
param
value Is feature state true or false.
throws
ParserConfigurationException if this DocumentBuilderFactory or the DocumentBuilders it creates cannot support this feature.
throws
NullPointerException If the name parameter is null.

public voidsetIgnoringComments(boolean ignoreComments)

Specifies that the parser produced by this code will ignore comments. By default the value of this is set to false .

param
ignoreComments boolean value to ignore comments during processing

        this.ignoreComments = ignoreComments;
    
public voidsetIgnoringElementContentWhitespace(boolean whitespace)
Specifies that the parsers created by this factory must eliminate whitespace in element content (sometimes known loosely as 'ignorable whitespace') when parsing XML documents (see XML Rec 2.10). Note that only whitespace which is directly contained within element content that has an element only content model (see XML Rec 3.2.1) will be eliminated. Due to reliance on the content model this setting requires the parser to be in validating mode. By default the value of this is set to false.

param
whitespace true if the parser created must eliminate whitespace in the element content when parsing XML documents; false otherwise.

        this.whitespace = whitespace;
    
public voidsetNamespaceAware(boolean awareness)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will provide support for XML namespaces. By default the value of this is set to false

param
awareness true if the parser produced will provide support for XML namespaces; false otherwise.

        this.namespaceAware = awareness;
    
public voidsetSchema(javax.xml.validation.Schema schema)

Set the {@link Schema} to be used by parsers created from this factory.

When a {@link Schema} is non-null, a parser will use a validator created from it to validate documents before it passes information down to the application.

When errors are found by the validator, the parser is responsible to report them to the user-specified {@link org.w3c.dom.DOMErrorHandler} (or if the error handler is not set, ignore them or throw them), just like any other errors found by the parser itself. In other words, if the user-specified {@link org.w3c.dom.DOMErrorHandler} is set, it must receive those errors, and if not, they must be treated according to the implementation specific default error handling rules.

A validator may modify the outcome of a parse (for example by adding default values that were missing in documents), and a parser is responsible to make sure that the application will receive modified DOM trees.

Initialy, null is set as the {@link Schema}.

This processing will take effect even if the {@link #isValidating()} method returns false.

It is an error to use the http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/properties/schemaSource property and/or the http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/properties/schemaLanguage property in conjunction with a {@link Schema} object. Such configuration will cause a {@link ParserConfigurationException} exception when the {@link #newDocumentBuilder()} is invoked.

Note for implmentors

A parser must be able to work with any {@link Schema} implementation. However, parsers and schemas are allowed to use implementation-specific custom mechanisms as long as they yield the result described in the specification.

param
schema Schema to use or null to remove a schema.
throws
UnsupportedOperationException For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.
since
1.5

        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
            "This parser does not support specification \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationTitle()
            + "\" version \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationVersion()
            + "\""
            );
    
public voidsetValidating(boolean validating)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will validate documents as they are parsed. By default the value of this is set to false.

Note that "the validation" here means a validating parser as defined in the XML recommendation. In other words, it essentially just controls the DTD validation. (except the legacy two properties defined in JAXP 1.2. See here for more details.)

To use modern schema languages such as W3C XML Schema or RELAX NG instead of DTD, you can configure your parser to be a non-validating parser by leaving the {@link #setValidating(boolean)} method false, then use the {@link #setSchema(Schema)} method to associate a schema to a parser.

param
validating true if the parser produced will validate documents as they are parsed; false otherwise.

        this.validating = validating;
    
public voidsetXIncludeAware(boolean state)

Set state of XInclude processing.

If XInclude markup is found in the document instance, should it be processed as specified in XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0.

XInclude processing defaults to false.

param
state Set XInclude processing to true or false
throws
UnsupportedOperationException For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.
since
1.5

        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
            "This parser does not support specification \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationTitle()
            + "\" version \""
            + this.getClass().getPackage().getSpecificationVersion()
            + "\""
            );