XPathFactory

public abstract class XPathFactory
extends Object

java.lang.Object
   ↳ javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory


An XPathFactory instance can be used to create XPath objects.

See newInstance(java.lang.String) for lookup mechanism.

Summary

Constants

String DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI

Default Object Model URI.

String DEFAULT_PROPERTY_NAME

The default property name according to the JAXP spec.

Protected constructors

XPathFactory()

Protected constructor as newInstance(), newInstance(java.lang.String) or newInstance(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.ClassLoader) should be used to create a new instance of an XPathFactory.

Public methods

abstract boolean getFeature(String name)

Get the state of the named feature.

abstract boolean isObjectModelSupported(String objectModel)

Is specified object model supported by this XPathFactory?

static final XPathFactory newInstance()

Get a new XPathFactory instance using the default object model, DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI, the W3C DOM.

static XPathFactory newInstance(String uri, String factoryClassName, ClassLoader classLoader)
static final XPathFactory newInstance(String uri)

Get a new XPathFactory instance using the specified object model.

abstract XPath newXPath()

Return a new XPath using the underlying object model determined when the XPathFactory was instantiated.

abstract void setFeature(String name, boolean value)

Set a feature for this XPathFactory and XPaths created by this factory.

abstract void setXPathFunctionResolver(XPathFunctionResolver resolver)

Establish a default function resolver.

abstract void setXPathVariableResolver(XPathVariableResolver resolver)

Establish a default variable resolver.

Inherited methods

Constants

DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI

Added in API level 8
public static final String DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI

Default Object Model URI.

Constant Value: "http://java.sun.com/jaxp/xpath/dom"

DEFAULT_PROPERTY_NAME

Added in API level 8
public static final String DEFAULT_PROPERTY_NAME

The default property name according to the JAXP spec.

Constant Value: "javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory"

Protected constructors

XPathFactory

Added in API level 8
protected XPathFactory ()

Protected constructor as newInstance(), newInstance(java.lang.String) or newInstance(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.ClassLoader) should be used to create a new instance of an XPathFactory.

Public methods

getFeature

Added in API level 8
public abstract boolean getFeature (String name)

Get the state of the named feature.

Feature names are fully qualified URIs. Implementations may define their own features. An XPathFactoryConfigurationException is thrown if this XPathFactory or the XPaths it creates cannot support the feature. It is possible for an XPathFactory to expose a feature value but be unable to change its state.

Parameters
name String: Feature name.

Returns
boolean State of the named feature.

Throws
XPathFactoryConfigurationException if this XPathFactory or the XPaths it creates cannot support this feature.
NullPointerException if name is null.

isObjectModelSupported

Added in API level 8
public abstract boolean isObjectModelSupported (String objectModel)

Is specified object model supported by this XPathFactory?

Parameters
objectModel String: Specifies the object model which the returned XPathFactory will understand.

Returns
boolean true if XPathFactory supports objectModel, else false.

Throws
NullPointerException If objectModel is null.
IllegalArgumentException If objectModel.length() == 0.

newInstance

Added in API level 8
public static final XPathFactory newInstance ()

Get a new XPathFactory instance using the default object model, DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI, the W3C DOM.

This method is functionally equivalent to:

   newInstance(DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI)
 

Since the implementation for the W3C DOM is always available, this method will never fail.

Returns
XPathFactory Instance of an XPathFactory.

newInstance

Added in API level 8
public static XPathFactory newInstance (String uri, 
                String factoryClassName, 
                ClassLoader classLoader)

Parameters
uri String

factoryClassName String

classLoader ClassLoader

Returns
XPathFactory Instance of an XPathFactory.

Throws
XPathFactoryConfigurationException If the specified object model is unavailable.
NullPointerException If uri is null.
IllegalArgumentException If uri.length() == 0.

newInstance

Added in API level 8
public static final XPathFactory newInstance (String uri)

Get a new XPathFactory instance using the specified object model.

To find a XPathFactory object, this method looks the following places in the following order where "the class loader" refers to the context class loader:

  1. If the system property DEFAULT_PROPERTY_NAME + ":uri" is present, where uri is the parameter to this method, then its value is read as a class name. The method will try to create a new instance of this class by using the class loader, and returns it if it is successfully created.
  2. ${java.home}/lib/jaxp.properties is read and the value associated with the key being the system property above is looked for. If present, the value is processed just like above.
  3. The class loader is asked for service provider provider-configuration files matching javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory in the resource directory META-INF/services. See the JAR File Specification for file format and parsing rules. Each potential service provider is required to implement the method:
           isObjectModelSupported(java.lang.String)
         
    The first service provider found in class loader order that supports the specified object model is returned.
  4. Platform default XPathFactory is located in a platform specific way. There must be a platform default XPathFactory for the W3C DOM, i.e. DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI.

If everything fails, an XPathFactoryConfigurationException will be thrown.

Tip for Trouble-shooting:

See Properties.load(java.io.InputStream) for exactly how a property file is parsed. In particular, colons ':' need to be escaped in a property file, so make sure the URIs are properly escaped in it. For example:

   http\://java.sun.com/jaxp/xpath/dom=org.acme.DomXPathFactory
 

Parameters
uri String: Identifies the underlying object model. The specification only defines the URI DEFAULT_OBJECT_MODEL_URI, http://java.sun.com/jaxp/xpath/dom for the W3C DOM, the org.w3c.dom package, and implementations are free to introduce other URIs for other object models.

Returns
XPathFactory Instance of an XPathFactory.

Throws
XPathFactoryConfigurationException If the specified object model is unavailable.
NullPointerException If uri is null.
IllegalArgumentException If uri.length() == 0.

newXPath

Added in API level 8
public abstract XPath newXPath ()

Return a new XPath using the underlying object model determined when the XPathFactory was instantiated.

Returns
XPath New instance of an XPath.

setFeature

Added in API level 8
public abstract void setFeature (String name, 
                boolean value)

Set a feature for this XPathFactory and XPaths created by this factory.

Feature names are fully qualified URIs. Implementations may define their own features. An XPathFactoryConfigurationException is thrown if this XPathFactory or the XPaths it creates cannot support the feature. It is possible for an XPathFactory to expose a feature value but be unable to change its state.

All implementations are required to support the XMLConstants.FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING feature. When the feature is true, any reference to an external function is an error. Under these conditions, the implementation must not call the XPathFunctionResolver and must throw an XPathFunctionException.

Parameters
name String: Feature name.

value boolean: Is feature state true or false.

Throws
XPathFactoryConfigurationException if this XPathFactory or the XPaths it creates cannot support this feature.
NullPointerException if name is null.

setXPathFunctionResolver

Added in API level 8
public abstract void setXPathFunctionResolver (XPathFunctionResolver resolver)

Establish a default function resolver.

Any XPath objects constructed from this factory will use the specified resolver by default.

A NullPointerException is thrown if resolver is null.

Parameters
resolver XPathFunctionResolver: XPath function resolver.

Throws
NullPointerException If resolver is null.

setXPathVariableResolver

Added in API level 8
public abstract void setXPathVariableResolver (XPathVariableResolver resolver)

Establish a default variable resolver.

Any XPath objects constructed from this factory will use the specified resolver by default.

A NullPointerException is thrown if resolver is null.

Parameters
resolver XPathVariableResolver: Variable resolver.

Throws
NullPointerException If resolver is null.