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| 54 | <H2><A NAME="SECTION0015730000000000000000"></A><A NAME="minidom-and-dom"></A> |
| 55 | <BR> |
| 56 | 13.7.3 minidom and the DOM standard |
| 57 | </H2> |
| 58 | |
| 59 | <P> |
| 60 | The <tt class="module"><a href="module-xml.dom.minidom.html">xml.dom.minidom</a></tt> module is essentially a DOM |
| 61 | 1.0-compatible DOM with some DOM 2 features (primarily namespace |
| 62 | features). |
| 63 | |
| 64 | <P> |
| 65 | Usage of the DOM interface in Python is straight-forward. The |
| 66 | following mapping rules apply: |
| 67 | |
| 68 | <P> |
| 69 | |
| 70 | <UL> |
| 71 | <LI>Interfaces are accessed through instance objects. Applications |
| 72 | should not instantiate the classes themselves; they should use |
| 73 | the creator functions available on the <tt class="class">Document</tt> object. |
| 74 | Derived interfaces support all operations (and attributes) from |
| 75 | the base interfaces, plus any new operations. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | <P> |
| 78 | </LI> |
| 79 | <LI>Operations are used as methods. Since the DOM uses only |
| 80 | <tt class="keyword">in</tt> parameters, the arguments are passed in normal |
| 81 | order (from left to right). There are no optional |
| 82 | arguments. <tt class="keyword">void</tt> operations return <code>None</code>. |
| 83 | |
| 84 | <P> |
| 85 | </LI> |
| 86 | <LI>IDL attributes map to instance attributes. For compatibility |
| 87 | with the OMG IDL language mapping for Python, an attribute |
| 88 | <code>foo</code> can also be accessed through accessor methods |
| 89 | <tt class="method">_get_foo()</tt> and <tt class="method">_set_foo()</tt>. <tt class="keyword">readonly</tt> |
| 90 | attributes must not be changed; this is not enforced at |
| 91 | runtime. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | <P> |
| 94 | </LI> |
| 95 | <LI>The types <code>short int</code>, <code>unsigned int</code>, <code>unsigned |
| 96 | long long</code>, and <code>boolean</code> all map to Python integer |
| 97 | objects. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | <P> |
| 100 | </LI> |
| 101 | <LI>The type <code>DOMString</code> maps to Python strings. |
| 102 | <tt class="module"><a href="module-xml.dom.minidom.html">xml.dom.minidom</a></tt> supports either byte or Unicode |
| 103 | strings, but will normally produce Unicode strings. Values |
| 104 | of type <code>DOMString</code> may also be <code>None</code> where allowed |
| 105 | to have the IDL <code>null</code> value by the DOM specification from |
| 106 | the W3C. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | <P> |
| 109 | </LI> |
| 110 | <LI><tt class="keyword">const</tt> declarations map to variables in their |
| 111 | respective scope |
| 112 | (e.g. <code>xml.dom.minidom.Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE</code>); |
| 113 | they must not be changed. |
| 114 | |
| 115 | <P> |
| 116 | </LI> |
| 117 | <LI><code>DOMException</code> is currently not supported in |
| 118 | <tt class="module"><a href="module-xml.dom.minidom.html">xml.dom.minidom</a></tt>. Instead, |
| 119 | <tt class="module"><a href="module-xml.dom.minidom.html">xml.dom.minidom</a></tt> uses standard Python exceptions such |
| 120 | as <tt class="exception">TypeError</tt> and <tt class="exception">AttributeError</tt>. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | <P> |
| 123 | </LI> |
| 124 | <LI><tt class="class">NodeList</tt> objects are implemented using Python's built-in |
| 125 | list type. Starting with Python 2.2, these objects provide the |
| 126 | interface defined in the DOM specification, but with earlier |
| 127 | versions of Python they do not support the official API. They |
| 128 | are, however, much more ``Pythonic'' than the interface defined |
| 129 | in the W3C recommendations. |
| 130 | </LI> |
| 131 | </UL> |
| 132 | |
| 133 | <P> |
| 134 | The following interfaces have no implementation in |
| 135 | <tt class="module"><a href="module-xml.dom.minidom.html">xml.dom.minidom</a></tt>: |
| 136 | |
| 137 | <P> |
| 138 | |
| 139 | <UL> |
| 140 | <LI><tt class="class">DOMTimeStamp</tt> |
| 141 | |
| 142 | <P> |
| 143 | </LI> |
| 144 | <LI><tt class="class">DocumentType</tt> (added in Python 2.1) |
| 145 | |
| 146 | <P> |
| 147 | </LI> |
| 148 | <LI><tt class="class">DOMImplementation</tt> (added in Python 2.1) |
| 149 | |
| 150 | <P> |
| 151 | </LI> |
| 152 | <LI><tt class="class">CharacterData</tt> |
| 153 | |
| 154 | <P> |
| 155 | </LI> |
| 156 | <LI><tt class="class">CDATASection</tt> |
| 157 | |
| 158 | <P> |
| 159 | </LI> |
| 160 | <LI><tt class="class">Notation</tt> |
| 161 | |
| 162 | <P> |
| 163 | </LI> |
| 164 | <LI><tt class="class">Entity</tt> |
| 165 | |
| 166 | <P> |
| 167 | </LI> |
| 168 | <LI><tt class="class">EntityReference</tt> |
| 169 | |
| 170 | <P> |
| 171 | </LI> |
| 172 | <LI><tt class="class">DocumentFragment</tt> |
| 173 | </LI> |
| 174 | </UL> |
| 175 | |
| 176 | <P> |
| 177 | Most of these reflect information in the XML document that is not of |
| 178 | general utility to most DOM users. |
| 179 | |
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| 214 | <span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span> |
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