Java Web Services in a Nutshell

Name

Node

Synopsis

public interface Node {
// Public Instance Methods
    public abstract void detachNode(  ); 
    public abstract SOAPElement getParentElement(  ); 
    public abstract String getValue(  ); 
    public abstract void recycleNode(  ); 
    public abstract void setParentElement(SOAPElement parent) 
        throws SOAPException; 
}

Node is an interface that represents a node in a DOM-like tree representation of a SOAP message. In particular, Node owns the reference required to maintain the linkage between a SOAP element and its single parent. In the SAAJ API, Node is never used directly. Instead, the API deals with its two derived interfaces: SOAPElement, which adds the capability to attach attributes and namespace declarations, and Text, which represents textual content.

The getParentElement( ) method returns a reference to the SOAPElement that resides above this Node in the element hierarchy, whereas setParentElement( ) links the node beneath a given SOAPElement. The detachNode( ) method can be used to remove the Node from the tree. If the application code knows that it no longer needs a particular Node, it should use the recycleNode( ) method to allow it to be garbage-collected once all hard references to it are removed. As a side effect, the Node is removed from its parent if it is still linked when this method is called.

getValue( ) is a convenience method that returns a string that is the value associated with a Text child of this Node. It returns null if the node does not have such a child. Text can ...