DocumentBuilder

AI-generated Key Takeaways

• DocumentBuilder is an abstract class in Java used to create DOM Document objects from XML data.

• It provides methods to parse XML from various input sources like InputStreams, Files, URLs, and SAX InputSources.

• Instances of DocumentBuilder are obtained using DocumentBuilderFactory.newDocumentBuilder().

• It utilizes classes from the SAX API for application communication, but doesn't mandate the use of a SAX parser for parsing.

• DocumentBuilder allows configuration of features like namespace awareness and validation, and can be reset to its original configuration for reuse.

public abstract class DocumentBuilder extends Object

Defines the API to obtain DOM Document instances from an XML document. Using this class, an application programmer can obtain a Document from XML.

An instance of this class can be obtained from the DocumentBuilderFactory.newDocumentBuilder() method. Once an instance of this class is obtained, XML can be parsed from a variety of input sources. These input sources are InputStreams, Files, URLs, and SAX InputSources.

Note that this class reuses several classes from the SAX API. This does not require that the implementor of the underlying DOM implementation use a SAX parser to parse XML document into a Document. It merely requires that the implementation communicate with the application using these existing APIs.

Protected Constructor Summary

DocumentBuilder() Protected constructor

Public Method Summary

abstract DOMImplementation	getDOMImplementation() Obtain an instance of a DOMImplementation object.
Schema	getSchema() Get a reference to the the Schema being used by the XML processor.
abstract boolean	isNamespaceAware() Indicates whether or not this parser is configured to understand namespaces.
abstract boolean	isValidating() Indicates whether or not this parser is configured to validate XML documents.
boolean	isXIncludeAware() Get the XInclude processing mode for this parser.
abstract Document	newDocument() Obtain a new instance of a DOM Document object to build a DOM tree with.
abstract Document	parse(InputSource is) Parse the content of the given input source as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object.
Document	parse(String uri) Parse the content of the given URI as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object.
Document	parse(InputStream is) Parse the content of the given InputStream as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object.
Document	parse(InputStream is, String systemId) Parse the content of the given InputStream as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object.
Document	parse(File f) Parse the content of the given file as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object.
void	reset() Reset this DocumentBuilder to its original configuration.
abstract void	setEntityResolver(EntityResolver er) Specify the EntityResolver to be used to resolve entities present in the XML document to be parsed.
abstract void	setErrorHandler(ErrorHandler eh) Specify the ErrorHandler to be used by the parser.

Inherited Method Summary

From class java.lang.Object

Object	clone() Creates and returns a copy of this Object.
boolean	equals(Object obj) Compares this instance with the specified object and indicates if they are equal.
void	finalize() Invoked when the garbage collector has detected that this instance is no longer reachable.
final Class<?>	getClass() Returns the unique instance of Class that represents this object's class.
int	hashCode() Returns an integer hash code for this object.
final void	notify() Causes a thread which is waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
final void	notifyAll() Causes all threads which are waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
String	toString() Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object.
final void	wait(long timeout, int nanos) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait(long timeout) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait() Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object.

Protected Constructors

protected DocumentBuilder ()

Protected constructor

Public Methods

public abstract DOMImplementation getDOMImplementation ()

Obtain an instance of a DOMImplementation object.

Returns

• A new instance of a DOMImplementation.

public Schema getSchema ()

Get a reference to the the Schema being used by the XML processor.

If no schema is being used, null is returned.

Returns

• Schema being used or null if none in use

Throws

UnsupportedOperationException	For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.

public abstract boolean isNamespaceAware ()

Indicates whether or not this parser is configured to understand namespaces.

Returns

• true if this parser is configured to understand namespaces; false otherwise.

public abstract boolean isValidating ()

Indicates whether or not this parser is configured to validate XML documents.

Returns

• true if this parser is configured to validate XML documents; false otherwise.

public boolean isXIncludeAware ()

Get the XInclude processing mode for this parser.

Returns

• the return value of the DocumentBuilderFactory.isXIncludeAware() when this parser was created from factory.

Throws

UnsupportedOperationException	For backward compatibility, when implementations for earlier versions of JAXP is used, this exception will be thrown.

See Also

• DocumentBuilderFactory.setXIncludeAware(boolean)

public abstract Document newDocument ()

Obtain a new instance of a DOM Document object to build a DOM tree with.

Returns

• A new instance of a DOM Document object.

public abstract Document parse (InputSource is)

Parse the content of the given input source as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object. An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if the InputSource is null null.

Parameters

is	InputSource containing the content to be parsed.

Returns

• A new DOM Document object.

Throws

IOException	If any IO errors occur.
SAXException	If any parse errors occur.

See Also

• DocumentHandler

public Document parse (String uri)

Parse the content of the given URI as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object. An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if the URI is null null.

Parameters

uri	The location of the content to be parsed.

Returns

• A new DOM Document object.

Throws

IOException	If any IO errors occur.
SAXException	If any parse errors occur.

See Also

• DocumentHandler

public Document parse (InputStream is)

Parse the content of the given InputStream as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object. An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if the InputStream is null.

Parameters

is	InputStream containing the content to be parsed.

Returns

• Document result of parsing the InputStream

Throws

IOException	If any IO errors occur.
SAXException	If any parse errors occur.

See Also

• DocumentHandler

public Document parse (InputStream is, String systemId)

Parse the content of the given InputStream as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object. An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if the InputStream is null.

Parameters

is	InputStream containing the content to be parsed.
systemId	Provide a base for resolving relative URIs.

Returns

• A new DOM Document object.

Throws

IOException	If any IO errors occur.
SAXException	If any parse errors occur.

See Also

• DocumentHandler

public Document parse (File f)

Parse the content of the given file as an XML document and return a new DOM Document object. An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if the File is null null.

Parameters

f	The file containing the XML to parse.

Returns

• A new DOM Document object.

Throws

IOException	If any IO errors occur.
SAXException	If any parse errors occur.

See Also

• DocumentHandler

public void reset ()

Reset this DocumentBuilder to its original configuration.

DocumentBuilder is reset to the same state as when it was created with DocumentBuilderFactory.newDocumentBuilder(). reset() is designed to allow the reuse of existing DocumentBuilders thus saving resources associated with the creation of new DocumentBuilders.

The reset DocumentBuilder is not guaranteed to have the same EntityResolver or ErrorHandler Objects, e.g. Object.equals(Object). It is guaranteed to have a functionally equal EntityResolver and ErrorHandler.

public abstract void setEntityResolver (EntityResolver er)

Specify the EntityResolver to be used to resolve entities present in the XML document to be parsed. Setting this to null will result in the underlying implementation using it's own default implementation and behavior.

Parameters

er	The EntityResolver to be used to resolve entities present in the XML document to be parsed.

public abstract void setErrorHandler (ErrorHandler eh)

Specify the ErrorHandler to be used by the parser. Setting this to null will result in the underlying implementation using it's own default implementation and behavior.

Parameters

eh	The ErrorHandler to be used by the parser.