XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo AT metalab.unc.edu>]

At 12:35 PM -0700 10/10/02, Michael Fitzgerald wrote:
> This is merely an exercise in curiosity.
>
> I've been thinking about whether it's possible to use XOM to
> straightforwardly* extract values related to the infoset's 54 properties. I
> am somewhat familiar with XOM's interface, so I took a stab at what I think
> it can do. Each property is annotated with a 'yes' or 'no', answering
> whether I think XOM can get the desired value. I certainly may be off in my
> assessments. So far, XOM scores 32 gettable properties of 54 (59%). If
> anyone can up the percentage, that'd be great.

There's a lot of crud in the InfoSet I deliberately avoid. In 
particular, the InfoSet mixes in lots of syntax with the model. XOM 
is scrupulous about not confusing the two.

> *by /straightforwardly/ I mean it has classes and methods with a direct or
> indirect relationship to the property, which allow one to determine a value.
>
> 2.1. The Document Information Item
> [children] yes
> [document element] yes
> [notations] no
> [unparsed entities] no

I originally thought I might want to add this, but then it occurred 
to me that JDOM doesn't have them and that in more than two years, 
not one person has ever asked for them. I also noticed that whenever 
I explain these things in my books, the examples are extremely 
stretched.

I'll probably add this if anybody ever asks for them, but until then 
I think I'll keep the API simpler.

> [base URI] yes
> [character encoding scheme] yes

I don't think you can get this.

> 2.5. Unexpanded Entity Reference Information Items
> [name] no
> [system identifier] no
> [public identifier] no
> [declaration base URI] no
> [parent] no

This is a little different. There are no Unexpanded Entity Reference 
Information Items in XOM. XOM always resolves all entities or throws 
an exception. Thus XOM supports access to the properties for every 
Unexpanded Entity Reference Information Item that exists (which is 
the empty set).

> 2.6. Character Information Items
> [character code] yes, sort of
> [element content whitespace] yes, sort of

I don't think this is available.
--

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo AT metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
|          XML in a  Nutshell, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly, 2002)          |
|              http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian2/              |
|  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0596002920/cafeaulaitA/  |
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