NAME

       XML::DOM::Attr - An XML attribute in XML::DOM

DESCRIPTION

       XML::DOM::Attr extends XML::DOM::Node.

       The  Attr  nodes built by the XML::DOM::Parser always have one child node which is a Text node containing
       the expanded string value (i.e. EntityReferences are always expanded.) EntityReferences may be added when
       modifying or creating a new Document.

       The Attr interface represents an attribute in an Element object.  Typically the allowable values for  the
       attribute are defined in a document type definition.

       Attr  objects inherit the Node interface, but since they are not actually child nodes of the element they
       describe, the DOM does not consider them part of the document tree. Thus, the Node attributes parentNode,
       previousSibling, and nextSibling have a undef value for  Attr  objects.  The  DOM  takes  the  view  that
       attributes  are  properties of elements rather than having a separate identity from the elements they are
       associated with; this should make it more efficient to implement  such  features  as  default  attributes
       associated  with all elements of a given type. Furthermore, Attr nodes may not be immediate children of a
       DocumentFragment. However, they can be associated with Element nodes contained within a DocumentFragment.
       In short, users and implementors of the DOM need to be aware that Attr nodes have some things  in  common
       with other objects inheriting the Node interface, but they also are quite distinct.

       The  attribute's effective value is determined as follows: if this attribute has been explicitly assigned
       any value, that value is the attribute's effective value; otherwise, if there is a declaration  for  this
       attribute,  and  that  declaration  includes  a default value, then that default value is the attribute's
       effective value; otherwise, the attribute does not exist on this element in the structure model until  it
       has  been  explicitly  added.  Note that the nodeValue attribute on the Attr instance can also be used to
       retrieve the string version of the attribute's value(s).

       In XML, where the value of an attribute can contain entity references, the child nodes of the  Attr  node
       provide  a  representation  in  which entity references are not expanded. These child nodes may be either
       Text or EntityReference nodes. Because the  attribute  type  may  be  unknown,  there  are  no  tokenized
       attribute values.

       METHODS

       getValue
           On  retrieval,  the  value  of  the  attribute is returned as a string.  Character and general entity
           references are replaced with their values.

       setValue (str)
           DOM Spec: On setting, this creates a Text node with the unparsed contents of the string.

       getName
           Returns the name of this attribute.

perl v5.8.8                                        2002-02-09                                XML::DOM::Attr(3pm)