http://xml.apache.org/commons/components/external/: xml-commons provides an Apache-hosted set of DOM, SAX, and JAXP interfaces for use in other xml-based projects. Our hope is that we can standardize on both a common version and packaging scheme for these critical XML standards interfaces to make the lives of both our developers and users easier. The External Components portion of xml-commons contains interfaces that are defined by external standards organizations. For DOM, that's the W3C; for SAX it's David Megginson and sax.sourceforge.net; for JAXP it's Sun. 
/*
 * Copyright (c) 2004 World Wide Web Consortium,
 *
 * (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for
 * Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All Rights Reserved. This
 * work is distributed under the W3C(r) Software License [1] in the hope that
 * it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
 * warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 *
 * [1] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231
 */

package org.w3c.dom;


The Text interface inherits from CharacterData 
and represents the textual content (termed character data in XML) of an Element or Attr. If there is no 
markup inside an element's content, the text is contained in a single 
object implementing the Text interface that is the only 
child of the element. If there is markup, it is parsed into the 
information items (elements, comments, etc.) and Text nodes 
that form the list of children of the element.

When a document is first made available via the DOM, there is only one 
Text node for each block of text. Users may create adjacent 
Text nodes that represent the contents of a given element 
without any intervening markup, but should be aware that there is no way 
to represent the separations between these nodes in XML or HTML, so they 
will not (in general) persist between DOM editing sessions. The 
Node.normalize() method merges any such adjacent 
Text objects into a single node for each block of text.

 No lexical check is done on the content of a Text node 
and, depending on its position in the document, some characters must be 
escaped during serialization using character references; e.g. the 
characters "<&" if the textual content is part of an element or of 
an attribute, the character sequence "]]>" when part of an element, 
the quotation mark character " or the apostrophe character ' when part of 
an attribute. 

See also the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification.

/**
 * The <code>Text</code> interface inherits from <code>CharacterData</code> 
 * and represents the textual content (termed <a href='http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-20040204#syntax'>character data</a> in XML) of an <code>Element</code> or <code>Attr</code>. If there is no 
 * markup inside an element's content, the text is contained in a single 
 * object implementing the <code>Text</code> interface that is the only 
 * child of the element. If there is markup, it is parsed into the 
 * information items (elements, comments, etc.) and <code>Text</code> nodes 
 * that form the list of children of the element.
 * <p>When a document is first made available via the DOM, there is only one 
 * <code>Text</code> node for each block of text. Users may create adjacent 
 * <code>Text</code> nodes that represent the contents of a given element 
 * without any intervening markup, but should be aware that there is no way 
 * to represent the separations between these nodes in XML or HTML, so they 
 * will not (in general) persist between DOM editing sessions. The 
 * <code>Node.normalize()</code> method merges any such adjacent 
 * <code>Text</code> objects into a single node for each block of text.
 * <p> No lexical check is done on the content of a <code>Text</code> node 
 * and, depending on its position in the document, some characters must be 
 * escaped during serialization using character references; e.g. the 
 * characters "&lt;&amp;" if the textual content is part of an element or of 
 * an attribute, the character sequence "]]&gt;" when part of an element, 
 * the quotation mark character " or the apostrophe character ' when part of 
 * an attribute. 
 * <p>See also the <a href='http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-DOM-Level-3-Core-20040407'>Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification</a>.
 */
public interface Text extends CharacterData {
    
Breaks this node into two nodes at the specified offset, 
keeping both in the tree as siblings. After being split, this node 
will contain all the content up to the offset point. A 
new node of the same type, which contains all the content at and 
after the offset point, is returned. If the original 
node had a parent node, the new node is inserted as the next sibling 
of the original node. When the offset is equal to the 
length of this node, the new node has no data.

Params:
  • offset – The 16-bit unit offset at which to split, starting from 
  0.
Throws:
  • DOMException – 
  INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater 
  than the number of 16-bit units in data.
  
    NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.
Returns:The new node, of the same type as this node.
/**
     * Breaks this node into two nodes at the specified <code>offset</code>, 
     * keeping both in the tree as siblings. After being split, this node 
     * will contain all the content up to the <code>offset</code> point. A 
     * new node of the same type, which contains all the content at and 
     * after the <code>offset</code> point, is returned. If the original 
     * node had a parent node, the new node is inserted as the next sibling 
     * of the original node. When the <code>offset</code> is equal to the 
     * length of this node, the new node has no data.
     * @param offset The 16-bit unit offset at which to split, starting from 
     *   <code>0</code>.
     * @return The new node, of the same type as this node.
     * @exception DOMException
     *   INDEX_SIZE_ERR: Raised if the specified offset is negative or greater 
     *   than the number of 16-bit units in <code>data</code>.
     *   <br>NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.
     */
    public Text splitText(int offset)
                          throws DOMException;

    
Returns whether this text node contains 
element content whitespace, often abusively called "ignorable whitespace". The text node is 
determined to contain whitespace in element content during the load 
of the document or if validation occurs while using 
Document.normalizeDocument().

Since:DOM Level 3
/**
     * Returns whether this text node contains <a href='http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-infoset-20040204#infoitem.character'>
     * element content whitespace</a>, often abusively called "ignorable whitespace". The text node is 
     * determined to contain whitespace in element content during the load 
     * of the document or if validation occurs while using 
     * <code>Document.normalizeDocument()</code>.
     * @since DOM Level 3
     */
    public boolean isElementContentWhitespace();

    
Returns all text of Text nodes logically-adjacent text 
nodes to this node, concatenated in document order.

For instance, in the example below wholeText on the 
Text node that contains "bar" returns "barfoo", while on 
the Text node that contains "foo" it returns "barfoo". 

Since:DOM Level 3
/**
     * Returns all text of <code>Text</code> nodes logically-adjacent text 
     * nodes to this node, concatenated in document order.
     * <br>For instance, in the example below <code>wholeText</code> on the 
     * <code>Text</code> node that contains "bar" returns "barfoo", while on 
     * the <code>Text</code> node that contains "foo" it returns "barfoo". 
     * @since DOM Level 3
     */
    public String getWholeText();

    
Replaces the text of the current node and all logically-adjacent text 
nodes with the specified text. All logically-adjacent text nodes are 
removed including the current node unless it was the recipient of the 
replacement text.

This method returns the node which received the replacement text. 
The returned node is: 

    

  • null, when the replacement text is 
the empty string;

    • 

  • the current node, except when the current node is 
read-only;

    • 

  •  a new Text node of the same type (
Text or CDATASection) as the current node 
inserted at the location of the replacement.

    • 



For instance, in the above example calling 
replaceWholeText on the Text node that 
contains "bar" with "yo" in argument results in the following: 

Where the nodes to be removed are read-only descendants of an 
EntityReference, the EntityReference must 
be removed instead of the read-only nodes. If any 
EntityReference to be removed has descendants that are 
not EntityReference, Text, or 
CDATASection nodes, the replaceWholeText 
method must fail before performing any modification of the document, 
raising a DOMException with the code 
NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR.

For instance, in the example below calling 
replaceWholeText on the Text node that 
contains "bar" fails, because the EntityReference node 
"ent" contains an Element node which cannot be removed.

Params:
  • content – The content of the replacing Text node.
Throws:
  • DOMException – 
  NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if one of the Text 
  nodes being replaced is readonly.
Returns:The Text node created with the specified content.
Since:DOM Level 3
/**
     * Replaces the text of the current node and all logically-adjacent text 
     * nodes with the specified text. All logically-adjacent text nodes are 
     * removed including the current node unless it was the recipient of the 
     * replacement text.
     * <br>This method returns the node which received the replacement text. 
     * The returned node is: 
     * <ul>
     * <li><code>null</code>, when the replacement text is 
     * the empty string;
     * </li>
     * <li>the current node, except when the current node is 
     * read-only;
     * </li>
     * <li> a new <code>Text</code> node of the same type (
     * <code>Text</code> or <code>CDATASection</code>) as the current node 
     * inserted at the location of the replacement.
     * </li>
     * </ul>
     * <br>For instance, in the above example calling 
     * <code>replaceWholeText</code> on the <code>Text</code> node that 
     * contains "bar" with "yo" in argument results in the following: 
     * <br>Where the nodes to be removed are read-only descendants of an 
     * <code>EntityReference</code>, the <code>EntityReference</code> must 
     * be removed instead of the read-only nodes. If any 
     * <code>EntityReference</code> to be removed has descendants that are 
     * not <code>EntityReference</code>, <code>Text</code>, or 
     * <code>CDATASection</code> nodes, the <code>replaceWholeText</code> 
     * method must fail before performing any modification of the document, 
     * raising a <code>DOMException</code> with the code 
     * <code>NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR</code>.
     * <br>For instance, in the example below calling 
     * <code>replaceWholeText</code> on the <code>Text</code> node that 
     * contains "bar" fails, because the <code>EntityReference</code> node 
     * "ent" contains an <code>Element</code> node which cannot be removed.
     * @param content The content of the replacing <code>Text</code> node.
     * @return The <code>Text</code> node created with the specified content.
     * @exception DOMException
     *   NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if one of the <code>Text</code> 
     *   nodes being replaced is readonly.
     * @since DOM Level 3
     */
    public Text replaceWholeText(String content)
                                 throws DOMException;

}