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.IX Title "XML::Easy::Element 3pm"
.TH XML::Easy::Element 3pm 2024-03-10 "perl v5.38.2" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
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.SH NAME
XML::Easy::Element \- abstract form of XML element
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\&    use XML::Easy::Element;
\&
\&    $element = XML::Easy::Element\->new("a", { href => "#there" },
\&                $content);
\&
\&    $type_name = $element\->type_name;
\&    $attributes = $element\->attributes;
\&    $href = $element\->attribute("href");
\&    $content = $element\->content_object;
.Ve
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
An object of this class represents an XML element, a node in the tree
making up an XML document.  This is in an abstract form, intended
for general manipulation.  It is completely isolated from the textual
representation of XML, and holds only the meaningful content of the
element.  The data in an element object cannot be modified: different
data requires the creation of a new object.
.PP
The properties of an XML element are of three kinds.  Firstly, the element
has exactly one type, which is referred to by a name.  Secondly, the
element has a set of zero or more attributes.  Each attribute consists of
a name, which is unique among the attributes of the element, and a value,
which is a string of characters.  Finally, the element has content, which
is a sequence of zero or more characters and (recursively) elements,
interspersed in any fashion.
.PP
The element type name and attribute names all follow the XML syntax
for names.  This allows the use of a wide set of Unicode characters,
with some restrictions.  Attribute values and character content can use
almost all Unicode characters, with only a few characters (such as most
of the ASCII control characters) prohibited by the specification from
being directly represented in XML.
.PP
This class is not meant to be subclassed.  XML elements are unextendable,
dumb data.  Element objects are better processed using the functions in
XML::Easy::NodeBasics than using the methods of this class.
.SH CONSTRUCTOR
.IX Header "CONSTRUCTOR"
.IP "XML::Easy::Element\->new(TYPE_NAME, ATTRIBUTES, CONTENT)" 4
.IX Item "XML::Easy::Element->new(TYPE_NAME, ATTRIBUTES, CONTENT)"
Constructs and returns a new element object with the specified properties.
\&\fITYPE_NAME\fR must be a string.  \fIATTRIBUTES\fR must be a reference
to a hash in the same form that is returned by the accessor method
\&\f(CW\*(C`attributes\*(C'\fR (below).  \fICONTENT\fR must be a reference to either an
XML::Easy::Content object or a twine array
(see "Twine" in XML::Easy::NodeBasics).
All are checked for validity, against
the XML 1.0 specification, and the function \f(CW\*(C`die\*(C'\fRs if any are invalid.
.SH METHODS
.IX Header "METHODS"
.ie n .IP $element\->type_name 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->type_name 4
.IX Item "$element->type_name"
Returns the element type name, as a string.
.ie n .IP $element\->attributes 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->attributes 4
.IX Item "$element->attributes"
Returns a reference to a hash encapsulating the element's attributes.
In the hash, each key is an attribute name, and the corresponding value
is the attribute's value as a string.
.Sp
The returned hash must not be subsequently modified.  If possible, it
will be marked as read-only in order to prevent modification.  As a side
effect, the read-only-ness may make lookup of any non-existent attribute
generate an exception rather than returning \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR.
.ie n .IP $element\->attribute(NAME) 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->attribute(NAME) 4
.IX Item "$element->attribute(NAME)"
Looks up a specific attribute of the element.
The supplied \fINAME\fR must be a string containing a valid attribute name.
If there is an attribute by that name then its value is returned,
as a string.  If there is no such attribute then \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR is returned.
.ie n .IP $element\->content_object 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->content_object 4
.IX Item "$element->content_object"
Returns a reference to an XML::Easy::Content object encapsulating
the element's content.
.ie n .IP $element\->content_twine 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->content_twine 4
.IX Item "$element->content_twine"
Returns a reference to a twine array (see "Twine" in XML::Easy::NodeBasics)
listing the element's content.
.Sp
The returned array must not be subsequently modified.  If possible,
it will be marked as read-only in order to prevent modification.
.ie n .IP $element\->content 4
.el .IP \f(CW$element\fR\->content 4
.IX Item "$element->content"
Deprecated alias for the "content_twine" method.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
XML::Easy::Content,
XML::Easy::NodeBasics
.SH AUTHOR
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Andrew Main (Zefram) <zefram@fysh.org>
.SH COPYRIGHT
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (C) 2008, 2009 PhotoBox Ltd
.PP
Copyright (C) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017
Andrew Main (Zefram) <zefram@fysh.org>
.SH LICENSE
.IX Header "LICENSE"
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.