DOM Document Type Definition Module

Terminology

All examples and notes in this specification are non‐normative, as are all sections explicitly marked non‐normative.

Known issues are marked like this. They are non‐normative.

Everything else in this document is normative.

The key words MUST, MUST NOT, and MAY in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].

Conformance requirements phrased as algorithms or specific steps MAY be implemented in any manner, so long as the end result is equivalent. Requirements phrased in the imperative as part of algorithms are to be interpreted with the meaning of the key word used in introducing the algorithm.

Sometimes an exception is phrased as being required to be raised. As specified in the DOM Core specification [DOM3CORE], when the value of the strictErrorChecking attribute of the Document node is false, then the exception is not have to be raised.

Some conformance requirements are phrased as requirements on interfaces, attributes, methods, or objects. Such requirements are applied to implementations.

The construction a Foo object, where Foo is an interface, is used instead of the more accurate an object implementing the interface Foo.

The construction raise a Bar, where Bar is an exception code, is used instead of the more accurate raise an exception implementing the interface DOMException [DOM3CORE] with its code attribute set to Bar.

The terms live and setting and getting of an attribute is defined in the HTML5 specification [HTML5].

The term read‐only (node) is defined in the DOM Level 3 Core specification [DOM3CORE].

The IDL fragments in this document are to be interpreted as described in the Language Bindings for DOM Specifications specification [DOMBIND].

Some IDL fragments are presented as patch to an IDL fragment defined in another document. They are to be interpreted as an instance of InterfaceMembers [DOMBIND]. If the IDL fragment to which the patch is applied has any instance of InterfaceMember with same identifier part as that of an instance of InterfaceMember in the patch, then the former instance of InterfaceMember MUST be ignored.

Conformance Categories

There are several kinds of products that can be claim to conform to this specification:

DOM Implementation

A DOM implementation (or just written as implementation in this document) provides a way to access DOM trees for applications by implementing interfaces defined by this and other documents. Unless otherwise noted, requirements in this document are applied to DOM implementations. To implement all the features in this document, the implementation have to implement some version of DOM Core (e.g. DOM Level 3 Core [DOM3CORE]) with one or more language binding (e.g. ECMAScript and Java bindings [DOMBIND] or Perl binding [DOMPERL]). A conforming implementation MUST also be a conforming implementation of the IDL fragments in this document, as described in the Language Bindings for DOM Specifications specification [DOMBIND].

XML Parser (XML document to DOM tree converter)

A software component that converts XML 1.0 or 1.1 document [XML10, XML11] (or fragment thereof) into a DOM tree (or fragment thereof) in the context of this document. Note that this document does not define any particular way to parse an XML document or to construct an DOM document, but it defines constraints for such processing.

XML Serializer (DOM tree to XML document converter)

A software component that converts DOM tree (or fragment thereof) into an XML 1.0 or 1.1 document (or fragment thereof). Note that this document does not define any particular way to serialize a DOM tree, but it defines constraints for such processing.

XML Information Set to DOM Tree Converter

A software component that converts an XML information set [INFOSET] into a DOM tree. Note that this document does not define any particular way for the conversion, but it defines constraints for such processing.

DOM Tree to XML Information Set Converter

A software component that converts a DOM tree into an XML information set. Note that this document does not define any particular way for the conversion, but it defines constraints for such processing.

Feature String

In a DOM implementation that supports the version 3.0 of the DOM Document Type Definition module, the hasFeature method of a DOMImplementation object [DOM3CORE] MUST return true when the parameters are set to http://suika.fam.cx/www/2006/feature/XDoctype and 3.0 respectively. Any method that takes one or more feature names, with or without version number, such as hasFeature or getFeature, MUST behave in a manner consistent with it.

Modifications to the Node Interface

The implementation of the Node interface MUST be modified as the following IDL fragment:

// Additions to the Node interface

// Additions to the NodeType definition group
const unsigned short ELEMENT_TYPE_DEFINITION_NODE = 81001;
const unsigned short ATTRIBUTE_DEFINITION_NODE = 81002;

interface DocumentTypeDefinition {
  readonly attribute NamedNodeMap elementTypes;
  readonly attribute NamedNodeMap generalEntities;
  readonly attribute NamedNodeMap notations;

  ElementTypeDefinition getElementTypeDefinitionNode
    (in DOMString name);
  Entity getGeneralEntityNode
    (in DOMString name);
  Notation getNotationNode
    (in DOMString name);

  void setElementTypeDefinitionNode
    (in DOMString node)
    raises (DOMException);
  void setGeneralEntityNode
    (in DOMString node)
    raises (DOMException);
  void setNotationNode
    (in DOMString node)
    raises (DOMException);
}

elementTypes of type NamedNodeMap, read‐only

A live NamedNodeMap object that contains all the element type definitions belonging to the DocumentType node.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the NamedNodeMap object that contains all the ElementTypeDefinition nodes belonging to the DocumentType node. The NamedNodeMap object MUST be read‐only if and only if the node is read‐only. The NamedNodeMap object MUST be live.

If the DocumentType node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, the following requirements are applied: The NamedNodeMap object in the elementType attribute MUST be so transformed that the object contains the ElementTypeDefinition nodes for the element types whose name is presented as the Name of the element type or attribute definition list declarations processed [XML10, XML11] by the XML processor. If there are more than one element type declarations for an element type, then the declarations other than the first one MUST be ignored for the purpose of constructing the NamedNodeMap object.

generalEntities of type NamedNodeMap, read‐only

A live NamedNodeMap object that contains all the general entities belonging to the DocumentType node.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the same value as the entities attribute (defined in the DocumentType interface) of the same node.

This attribute is part of the interface for historical reason.

notations of type NamedNodeMap, read‐only

A live NamedNodeMap object that contains all the notations belonging to the DocumentType node.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the same value as the notations attribute (defined in the DocumentType interface) of the same node.

This attribute is part of the interface for historical reason.

Implementations are not required to implement the notations attribute twice (for DocumentType and DocumentTypeDefinition interfaces); they share exactly same definition.

getElementTypeDefinitionNode, method

Returns the ElementTypeDefinition node with the specified name.

The name parameter is the name of the element type.

When invoked, the method MUST return the ElementTypeDefinition node, whose nodeName is equal to name, in the NamedNodeMap object in the elementTypes attribute of the node. If there is no such node, it MUST return null.

getGeneralEntityNode, method

Returns the Entity node with the specified name.

The name parameter is the name of the general entity.

When invoked, the method MUST return the Entity node, whose nodeName is equal to name, in the NamedNodeMap object in the entities attribute of the node. If there is no such node, it MUST return null.

getNotationNode, method

Returns the Notation node with the specified name.

The name parameter is the name of the notation.

When invoked, the method MUST return the Notation node, whose nodeName is equal to name, in the NamedNodeMap object in the notations attribute of the node. If there is no such node, it MUST return null.

setElementTypeDefinitionNode, method

Associate an ElementTypeDefinition node with the DocumentType node.

The node parameter is the node to associate.

When invoked, the method MUST follow the rules to attach a node, where n is the DocumentType node, l is the elementTypes attribute value of the DocumentType node, node is the node, and owner-attr is the ownerDocumentTypeDefinition attribute.

setGeneralEntityNode, method

Associate an Entity node with the DocumentType node.

The node parameter is the node to associate.

When invoked, the method MUST follow the rules to attach a node, where n is the DocumentType node, l is the entities attribute value of the DocumentType node, node is the node, and owner-attr is the ownerDocumentTypeDefinition attribute.

setNotationNode, method

Associate an Notation node with the DocumentType node.

The node parameter is the node to associate.

When invoked, the method MUST follow the rules to attach a node, where n is the DocumentType node, l is the notations attribute value of the DocumentType node, node is the node, and owner-attr is the ownerDocumentTypeDefinition attribute.

When a node is attached, the rules below, with parameters n, l, node, and owner-attr, MUST be followed:

1. Let r be the node in l whose nodeName attribute value is equal to the nodeName attribute value of node, if any.

2. If r is different from null and r is same node as node, then abort these steps.

3. If n is read‐only, then raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR and abort these steps.

4. If the ownerDocument attribute value of node is different from that of n, then raise a WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR and abort these steps.

5. If the value of the attribute owner-attr of node is different from null, then raise a HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR and abort these steps.

6. If r is a node, then remove it from r.

   By the removal of r, the attribute owner-attr of r is set to null.

7. Add node to l.

   By the addition of node, the attribute owner-attr of node is set to n.

The ElementTypeDefinition Interface

The nodes of type ELEMENT_TYPE_DEFINITION_NODE represents an element type definition. Such a node MUST implement the ElementTypeDefinition interface, which extends the Node interface.

An element type definition represents a definition of the element type. It is corresponding to the element type declaration in DTD. However, an ElementTypeDefinition node does not represent the element type definition in DTD itself. Even if there are more than one element type declarations for an element type in DTD, the result DOM will contain only an ElementTypeDefinition node for that element type. In addition, if there are attribute definition declarations for an element type, even when there is no element type declaration for that element type, the DOM will contain an ElementTypeDefinition node for that element type.

An ElementTypeDefinition node cannot be a child of any node. An ElementTypeDefinition node cannot have any child node.

The ElementTypeDefinition interface MUST be implemented as the following IDL fragment:

interface ElementTypeDefinition : Node {
  readonly attribute DocumentType ownerDocumentTypeDefinition;

  readonly attribute NamedNodeMap attributeDefinitions;
  AttributeDefinition getAttributeDefinitionNode
    (in DOMString name);
  void setAttributeDefinitionNode
    (in AttributeDefinition node)
    raises (DOMException);
}

ownerDocumentTypeDefinition of type DocumentType, read‐only

The ownerDocumentTypeDefinition attribute of ElementTypeDefinition, Entity, and Notation interfaces contain the DocumentType node to which the node is attached.

On getting, the attribute MUST return a DocumentType node. It MUST be such a node that whose elementTypes (for an ElementTypeDefinition node), entities (for an Entity node), or notations (for a Notation node) attribute contains the NamedNodeMap object that contains the node. If there is no such a DocumentType node, then null MUST be returned.

attributeDefinitions of type NamedNodeMap, read‐only

A live NamedNodeMap object that contains all the attribute definitions belonging to the ElementTypeDefinition node.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the NamedNodeMap object that contains all the AttributeDefinition node belonging to the ElementTypeDefinition node. The NamedNodeMap object MUST be read‐only if and only if the node is read‐only. The NamedNodeMap object MUST be live.

If the ElementTypeDefinition node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, the following requirements are applied: The NamedNodeMap object in the attributeDefinitions attribute MUST be so transformed that the object contains the AttributeDefinition node corresponding to the attribute definitions in the attribute definition list declarations processed [XML10, XML11] by the XML processor and associated to the element type represented by the node. If there are more than one attribute definitions for an attribute, then the definitions other than the first one MUST be ignored for the purpose of constructing the NamedNodeMap object.

getAttributeDefinitionNode, method

Return the AttributeDefinition node with the specified name.

The name parameter is the name of the attribute.

When invoked, the method MUST return the AttributeDefinition node, whose nodeName attribute value is equal to name, in the NamedNodeMap in the attributeDefinitions attribute of the node. If there is no such node, it MUST return null.

setAttributeDefinitionNode, method

Associate an AttributeDefinition node with the ElementTypeDefinition node.

The node parameter is the node to associate.

When invoked, the method MUST follow the rules to attach a node, where n is the ElementTypeDefinition node, l is the attributeDefinitions attribute value of the ElementTypeDefinition node, node is the node, and owner-attr is the ownerElementTypeDefinition attribute.

The AttributeDefinition Interface

The nodes of type ATTRIBUTE_DEFINITION_NODE represents an attribute definition. Such a node MUST implement the AttributeDefinition interface, which extends the Node interface.

An attribute definition represents a definition of the attribute associated to an element type. It is corresponding to the attribute definition in the attribute list declaration in DTD. However, an AttributeDefinition node does not represent the attribute definition in DTD itself. Even if there are more than one attribute definitions for an attribute of an element type in DTD, the result DOM will contain only an AttributeDefinition node for that attribute.

An AttributeDefinition node cannot be a child of any node. An AttributeDefinition node can have zero or more child nodes of same kinds as those allowed for Attr nodes [DOM3CORE].

The AttributeDefinition interface MUST be implemented as the following IDL fragment:

interface AttributeDefinition : Node {
  // DeclaredValueType
  const unsigned short NO_TYPE_ATTR = 0;
  const unsigned short CDATA_ATTR = 1;
  const unsigned short ID_ATTR = 2;
  const unsigned short IDREF_ATTR = 3;
  const unsigned short IDREFS_ATTR = 4;
  const unsigned short ENTITY_ATTR = 5;
  const unsigned short ENTITIES_ATTR = 6;
  const unsigned short NMTOKEN_ATTR = 7;
  const unsigned short NMTOKENS_ATTR = 8;
  const unsigned short NOTATION_ATTR = 9;
  const unsigned short ENUMERATION_ATTR = 10;
  const unsigned short UNKNOWN_ATTR = 11;

  // DefaultValueType
  const unsigned short UNKNOWN_DEFAULT = 0;
  const unsigned short FIXED_DEFAULT = 1;
  const unsigned short REQUIRED_DEFAULT = 2;
  const unsigned short IMPLIED_DEFAULT = 3;
  const unsigned short EXPLICIT_DEFAULT = 4;
  
  readonly attribute ElementTypeDefinition ownerElementTypeDefinition;

  readonly attribute unsigned short declaredType;
  readonly attribute DOMStringList allowedTokens;
  readonly attribute unsigned short defaultType;
}

ownerElementTypeDefinition of type ElementTypeDefinition, read‐only

The ElementTypeDefinition to which the AttributeDefinition node belongs.

On getting, the attribute MUST return an ElementTypeDefinition node. It MUST be such a node that whose attributeDefinitions attribute contains the NamedNodeMap object that contains the AttributeDefinition node. If there is no such an ElementTypeDefinition node, then null MUST be returned.

declaredType of type unsigned short

The declared type [XML10, XML11] of the attribute. It is expected that this attribute contains a value from the definition group DeclaredValueType.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the value associated to this attribute.

On setting, the attribute MUST raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR if the AttributeDefinition node is read‐only. Otherwise, it MUST set the specified value as the value associated to this attribute.

If the AttributeDefinition node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, an appropriate value from the DeclaredValueType constant group MUST be set to the attribute.

The definition group DeclaredValueType contains integers indicating the declared type of attributes. The definition group contains the following constants:

Name	Value	Description
NO_TYPE_ATTR	0	No value [INFOSET].
CDATA_ATTR	1	CDATA [XML10, XML11].
ID_ATTR	2	ID [XML10, XML11].
IDREF_ATTR	3	IDREF [XML10, XML11].
IDREFS_ATTR	4	IDREFS [XML10, XML11].
ENTITY_ATTR	5	ENTITY [XML10, XML11].
ENTITIES_ATTR	6	ENTITIES [XML10, XML11].
NMTOKEN_ATTR	7	NMTOKEN [XML10, XML11].
NMTOKENS_ATTR	8	NMTOKENS [XML10, XML11].
NOTATION_ATTR	9	NOTATION [XML10, XML11].
ENUMERATION_ATTR	10	Enumeration [XML10, XML11].
UNKNOWN_ATTR	11	Unknown, because no declaration for the attribute has been read but the [all declaration processed] property [INFOSET] would be false.

If no attribute type information is available, or if the source of the information does not distinguish no value and unknown [INFOSET], then the value NO_TYPE_ATTR MUST be used.

An AttributeDefinition node created by the createAttributeDefinition method has its declaredType attribute set to NO_TYPE_ATTR.

If the source of the information does not distinguish no value and/or unknown [INFOSET] and CDATA [XML10, XML11], then the value CDATA_ATTR MUST be used.

In Perl binding [DOMPERL], the Attr nodes MUST implement the DeclaredValueType definition group.

allowedTokens of type DOMStringList, read‐only

The list of allowed attribute values.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the DOMStringList object associated to this attribute. The object MAY contain zero or more ordered strings, consist of zero or more characters respectively, possibly with duplications. The object MUST be read‐only if and only if the node is read‐only.

If the AttributeDefinition node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, the object MUST contain the names or name tokens allowed for the attribute defined by the node. If the document is well‐formed, the object will be empty unless the declaredType is ENUMERATION_ATTR or NOTATION_ATTR.

If the declaredType is different from ENUMERATION_ATTR or NOTATION_ATTR, this attribute MUST be ignored for the purpose of serializing into (part of) XML document.

When serializing the node it should be noted that the object might be empty, might contain duplications, and might contain strings that are not names or name tokens.

defaultType of type unsigned short

The type of the default for the attribute. It is expected that this attribute contains a value from the definition group DefaultValueType.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the value associated to this attribute.

On setting, the attribute MUST raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR if the AttributeDefinition node is read‐only. Otherwise, it MUST set the specified value as the value associated to this attribute.

If the AttributeDefinition node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, an appropriate value from the DefaultValueType definition group MUST be set to the attribute.

The definition group DefaultValueType contains integers indicating the type of the default for the attribute. The definition group contains the following constants:

Name	Value	Description
UNKNOWN_DEFAULT	0	Unknown.
FIXED_DEFAULT	1	Provided explicitly and only the value is allowed. [XML10, XML11].
REQUIRED_DEFAULT	2	No default value and the attribute have to be explicitly specified.
IMPLIED_DEFAULT	3	Implied [XML10, XML11].
EXPLICIT_DEFAULT	4	Provided explicitly.

If the source of the default type does not distinguish implied and unknown default types, then the value IMPLIED_DEFAULT MUST be used.

An AttributeDefinition node created by the createAttributeDefinition method has its defaultType attribute set to UNKNOWN_DEFAULT.

Modifications to the Entity Interface

The implementation of the Entity interface MUST be modified as the following IDL fragment:

// Modifications to the Entity interface
  attribute DOMString publicId;
  attribute DOMString systemId;
  attribute DOMString notationName;

  // Additions to the Entity interface
  attribute DOMString hasReplacementTree;
  readonly attribute DocumentType ownerDocumentTypeDefinition;

  attribute boolean isExternallyDeclared;

The notationName attribute of the Entity interface is no longer read‐only.

On setting, the attribute MUST raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR if the node is read‐only. Otherwise, it MUST set the specified value as the value associated to the attribute. No lexical validation is performed. The new value MAY be null.

hasReplacementTree of type boolean

Whether the structure of the replacement text of the entity is available via the NodeList object in the childNodes attribute of the entity.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the value associated to this attribute.

On setting, the attribute MUST raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR if the node is read‐only. Otherwise, it MUST set the specified value as the value associated to this attribute.

The attribute can be set to false even if the Entity node has any child node. If the attribute is set to false, then any child node of the Entity node ought to be ignored, say, for the purpose of serialization.

When an EntityReference node is created by cloning the replacement subtree of the Entity node, if the attribute is set to false, then any descendant of the node MUST be ignored.

If the Entity node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, the following requirements are applied: If the entity is an unparsed entity, then the attribute MUST be set to false. Otherwise, if the entity is an external entity whose replacement text is not available, or whose replacement text is not converted to a replacement tree, then the attribute MUST be set to false. Otherwise, the attribute MUST be set to true.

An Entity node created by the createGeneralEntity method has its hasReplacementTree attribute set to false.

isExternallyDeclared of type boolean

Whether the entity is declared by an external entity declaration or not. If the value is true, the entity is declared in an entity declaration in the external subset entity or in an external parameter entity. If the value is false, the entity is declared in an entity declaration in the internal subset, or the node is created in memory.

On getting, the attribute MUST return the value associated to this attribute.

On setting, the attribute MUST raise a NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR if the node is read‐only. Otherwise, it MUST set the specified value as the value associated to this attribute.

If the Entity node is created during the process to create a DOM from an XML document, the following requirements are applied: If the entity is an unparsed entity, then the attribute MUST be set to false. Otherwise, i.e. the entity is a parsed entity, then the attribute MUST be set to the value of whether the entity is declared by an external markup declaration or not.

Modifications to the Notation Interface

The implementation of the Notation interface MUST be modified as the following IDL fragment:

// Modifications to the Notation interface
  attribute DOMString publicId;
  attribute DOMString systemId;

  // Addition to the Notation interface
  readonly attribute DocumentType ownerDocumentTypeDefinition;