XML DOM Tutorial

Manipulate Nodes

XML DOM Reference

XML DOM Examples

XML DOM Nodes

In the DOM, everything in an XML document is a node.

DOM Nodes

According to the DOM, everything in an XML document is a node.

The DOM says:

• The entire document is a document node
• Every XML element is an element node
• The text in the XML elements are text nodes
• Every attribute is an attribute node
• Comments are comment nodes

DOM Example

Look at the following XML file (books.xml):

The root node in the XML above is named <bookstore>. All other nodes in the document are contained within <bookstore>.

The root node <bookstore> holds four <book> nodes.

The first <book> node holds four nodes: <title>, <author>, <year>, and <price>, which contains one text node each, "Everyday Italian", "Giada De Laurentiis", "2005", and "30.00".

Text is Always Stored in Text Nodes

A common error in DOM processing is to expect an element node to contain text.

However, the text of an element node is stored in a text node.

In this example: <year>2005</year>, the element node <year>, holds a text node with the value "2005".

"2005" is not the value of the <year> element!