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authorThomas Wouters <thomas@python.org>2007-02-25 20:39:11 +0000
committerThomas Wouters <thomas@python.org>2007-02-25 20:39:11 +0000
commitca73a02ad9971549bf6d217f638e0556e7e9fce4 (patch)
treeddf143d2949c05896a889dfb4cdfe8bf388ac7ab /Doc/lib/libetree.tex
parent3e55d160f488c6f3482a945344104e4a0b864144 (diff)
downloadcpython-ca73a02ad9971549bf6d217f638e0556e7e9fce4.tar.gz
Merged revisions 53875-53911 via svnmerge from
svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r53899 | neal.norwitz | 2007-02-25 16:52:27 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 1 line Add more details when releasing interned strings ........ r53900 | neal.norwitz | 2007-02-25 16:53:36 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 1 line Whitespace only changes ........ r53901 | jeremy.hylton | 2007-02-25 16:57:45 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 8 lines Fix crash in exec when unicode filename can't be decoded. I can't think of an easy way to test this behavior. It only occurs when the file system default encoding and the interpreter default encoding are different, such that you can open the file but not decode its name. ........ r53902 | jeremy.hylton | 2007-02-25 17:01:58 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 2 lines Put declarations before code. ........ r53910 | fred.drake | 2007-02-25 18:56:27 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 3 lines - SF patch #1657613: add documentation for the Element interface - clean up bogus use of the {datadescni} environment everywhere ........ r53911 | neal.norwitz | 2007-02-25 20:44:48 +0100 (Sun, 25 Feb 2007) | 17 lines Variation of patch # 1624059 to speed up checking if an object is a subclass of some of the common builtin types. Use a bit in tp_flags for each common builtin type. Check the bit to determine if any instance is a subclass of these common types. The check avoids a function call and O(n) search of the base classes. The check is done in the various Py*_Check macros rather than calling PyType_IsSubtype(). All the bits are set in tp_flags when the type is declared in the Objects/*object.c files because PyType_Ready() is not called for all the types. Should PyType_Ready() be called for all types? If so and the change is made, the changes to the Objects/*object.c files can be reverted (remove setting the tp_flags). Objects/typeobject.c would also have to be modified to add conditions for Py*_CheckExact() in addition to each the PyType_IsSubtype check. ........
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/lib/libetree.tex')
-rw-r--r--Doc/lib/libetree.tex256
1 files changed, 163 insertions, 93 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libetree.tex b/Doc/lib/libetree.tex
index ffa19435c1..f769c632a4 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libetree.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libetree.tex
@@ -38,10 +38,7 @@ element that will be serialized as an XML comment.
The comment string can be either an 8-bit ASCII string or a Unicode
string.
\var{text} is a string containing the comment string.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element instance, representing a comment.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an element instance representing a comment.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{dump}{elem}
@@ -65,28 +62,19 @@ either 8-bit ASCII strings or Unicode strings.
\var{tag} is the element name.
\var{attrib} is an optional dictionary, containing element attributes.
\var{extra} contains additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an element instance.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{fromstring}{text}
Parses an XML section from a string constant. Same as XML.
\var{text} is a string containing XML data.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An Element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an Element instance.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{iselement}{element}
Checks if an object appears to be a valid element object.
\var{element} is an element instance.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-A true value if this is an element object.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns a true value if this is an element object.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{iterparse}{source\optional{, events}}
@@ -95,10 +83,7 @@ what's going on to the user.
\var{source} is a filename or file object containing XML data.
\var{events} is a list of events to report back. If omitted, only ``end''
events are reported.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-A (event, elem) iterator.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an iterator providing \code{(\var{event}, \var{elem})} pairs.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{parse}{source\optional{, parser}}
@@ -106,10 +91,7 @@ Parses an XML section into an element tree.
\var{source} is a filename or file object containing XML data.
\var{parser} is an optional parser instance. If not given, the
standard XMLTreeBuilder parser is used.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An ElementTree instance
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an ElementTree instance.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{ProcessingInstruction}{target\optional{, text}}
@@ -117,13 +99,11 @@ PI element factory. This factory function creates a special element
that will be serialized as an XML processing instruction.
\var{target} is a string containing the PI target.
\var{text} is a string containing the PI contents, if given.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element instance, representing a PI.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an element instance, representing a processing instruction.
\end{funcdesc}
-\begin{funcdesc}{SubElement}{parent, tag\optional{, attrib} \optional{, **extra}}
+\begin{funcdesc}{SubElement}{parent, tag\optional{,
+ attrib\optional{, **extra}}}
Subelement factory. This function creates an element instance, and
appends it to an existing element.
@@ -133,10 +113,7 @@ either 8-bit ASCII strings or Unicode strings.
\var{tag} is the subelement name.
\var{attrib} is an optional dictionary, containing element attributes.
\var{extra} contains additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an element instance.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{tostring}{element\optional{, encoding}}
@@ -144,33 +121,162 @@ Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all
subelements.
\var{element} is an Element instance.
\var{encoding} is the output encoding (default is US-ASCII).
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An encoded string containing the XML data.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an encoded string containing the XML data.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{XML}{text}
Parses an XML section from a string constant. This function can
be used to embed ``XML literals'' in Python code.
\var{text} is a string containing XML data.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An Element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an Element instance.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{XMLID}{text}
Parses an XML section from a string constant, and also returns
a dictionary which maps from element id:s to elements.
\var{text} is a string containing XML data.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-A tuple containing an Element instance and a dictionary.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns a tuple containing an Element instance and a dictionary.
\end{funcdesc}
+\subsection{The Element Interface\label{elementtree-element-interface}}
+
+Element objects returned by Element or SubElement have the
+following methods and attributes.
+
+\begin{memberdesc}{tag}
+A string identifying what kind of data this element represents
+(the element type, in other words).
+\end{memberdesc}
+
+\begin{memberdesc}{text}
+The \var{text} attribute can be used to hold additional data
+associated with the element.
+As the name implies this attribute is usually a string but may be any
+application-specific object.
+If the element is created from an XML file the attribute will contain
+any text found between the element tags.
+\end{memberdesc}
+
+\begin{memberdesc}{tail}
+The \var{tail} attribute can be used to hold additional data
+associated with the element.
+This attribute is usually a string but may be any application-specific object.
+If the element is created from an XML file the attribute will contain
+any text found after the element's end tag and before the next tag.
+\end{memberdesc}
+
+\begin{memberdesc}{attrib}
+A dictionary containing the element's attributes.
+Note that while the \var{attrib} value is always a real mutable Python
+dictionary, an ElementTree implementation may choose to use another
+internal representation, and create the dictionary only if someone
+asks for it. To take advantage of such implementations, use the
+dictionary methods below whenever possible.
+\end{memberdesc}
+
+The following dictionary-like methods work on the element attributes.
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{clear}{}
+Resets an element. This function removes all subelements, clears
+all attributes, and sets the text and tail attributes to None.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{get}{key\optional{, default=None}}
+Gets the element attribute named \var{key}.
+
+Returns the attribute value, or \var{default} if the
+attribute was not found.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{items}{}
+Returns the element attributes as a sequence of (name, value) pairs.
+The attributes are returned in an arbitrary order.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{keys}{}
+Returns the elements attribute names as a list.
+The names are returned in an arbitrary order.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{set}{key, value}
+Set the attribute \var{key} on the element to \var{value}.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+The following methods work on the element's children (subelements).
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{append}{subelement}
+Adds the element \var{subelement} to the end of this elements internal list
+of subelements.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{find}{match}
+Finds the first subelement matching \var{match}.
+\var{match} may be a tag name or path.
+Returns an element instance or \code{None}.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{findall}{match}
+Finds all subelements matching \var{match}.
+\var{match} may be a tag name or path.
+Returns an iterable yielding all matching elements in document order.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{findtext}{condition\optional{, default=None}}
+Finds text for the first subelement matching \var{condition}.
+\var{condition} may be a tag name or path.
+Returns the text content of the first matching element, or
+\var{default} if no element was found. Note that if the
+matching element has no text content an empty string is returned.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{getchildren}{}
+Returns all subelements. The elements are returned in document order.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{getiterator}{\optional{tag=None}}
+Creates a tree iterator with the current element as the root.
+The iterator iterates over this element and all elements below it
+that match the given tag. If tag
+is \code{None} or \code{'*'} then all elements are iterated over.
+Returns an iterable that provides element objects in document (depth first)
+order.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{insert}{index, element}
+Inserts a subelement at the given position in this element.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{makeelement}{tag, attrib}
+Creates a new element object of the same type as this element.
+Do not call this method, use the SubElement factory function instead.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+\begin{methoddesc}{remove}{subelement}
+Removes \var{subelement} from the element.
+Unlike the findXXX methods this method compares elements based on
+the instance identity, not on tag value or contents.
+\end{methoddesc}
+
+Element objects also support the following sequence type methods for
+working with subelements: \method{__delitem__()},
+\method{__getitem__()}, \method{__setitem__()}, \method{__len__()}.
+
+Caution: Because Element objects do not define a
+\method{__nonzero__()} method, elements with no subelements will test
+as \code{False}.
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+element = root.find('foo')
+
+if not element: # careful!
+ print "element not found, or element has no subelements"
+
+if element is None:
+ print "element not found"
+\end{verbatim}
+
+
\subsection{ElementTree Objects\label{elementtree-elementtree-objects}}
\begin{classdesc}{ElementTree}{\optional{element,} \optional{file}}
@@ -193,21 +299,15 @@ element. Use with care.
Finds the first toplevel element with given tag.
Same as getroot().find(path).
\var{path} is the element to look for.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-The first matching element, or None if no element was found.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns the first matching element, or \code{None} if no element was found.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{findall}{path}
Finds all toplevel elements with the given tag.
Same as getroot().findall(path).
\var{path} is the element to look for.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-A list or iterator containing all matching elements,
-in section order.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns a list or iterator containing all matching elements,
+in document order.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{findtext}{path\optional{, default}}
@@ -215,31 +315,20 @@ Finds the element text for the first toplevel element with given
tag. Same as getroot().findtext(path).
\var{path} is the toplevel element to look for.
\var{default} is the value to return if the element was not found.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-The text content of the first matching element, or the
+Returns the text content of the first matching element, or the
default value no element was found. Note that if the element
has is found, but has no text content, this method returns an
empty string.
-\end{datadescni}
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{getiterator}{\optional{tag}}
-Creates a tree iterator for the root element. The iterator loops
+Creates and returns a tree iterator for the root element. The iterator loops
over all elements in this tree, in section order.
\var{tag} is the tag to look for (default is to return all elements)
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An iterator.
-\end{datadescni}
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{getroot}{}
-Gets the root element for this tree.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns the root element for this tree.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{parse}{source\optional{, parser}}
@@ -247,10 +336,7 @@ Loads an external XML section into this element tree.
\var{source} is a file name or file object.
\var{parser} is an optional parser instance. If not given, the
standard XMLTreeBuilder parser is used.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-The section root element.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns the section root element.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{write}{file\optional{, encoding}}
@@ -270,10 +356,7 @@ in the form {\{}uri{\}}local, or, if the tag argument is given,
the URI part of a QName.
If \var{tag} is given, the first argument is interpreted as
an URI, and this argument is interpreted as a local name.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An opaque object, representing the QName.
-\end{datadescni}
+\class{QName} instances are opaque.
\end{classdesc}
@@ -291,10 +374,7 @@ given.
\begin{methoddesc}{close}{}
Flushes the parser buffers, and returns the toplevel documen
element.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An Element instance.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an Element instance.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{data}{data}
@@ -306,20 +386,14 @@ containing ASCII text, or a Unicode string.
\begin{methoddesc}{end}{tag}
Closes the current element.
\var{tag} is the element name.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-The closed element.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns the closed element.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{start}{tag, attrs}
Opens a new element.
\var{tag} is the element name.
\var{attrs} is a dictionary containing element attributes.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-The opened element.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns the opened element.
\end{methoddesc}
@@ -336,10 +410,7 @@ instance of the standard TreeBuilder class.
\begin{methoddesc}{close}{}
Finishes feeding data to the parser.
-
-\begin{datadescni}{Returns:}
-An element structure.
-\end{datadescni}
+Returns an element structure.
\end{methoddesc}
\begin{methoddesc}{doctype}{name, pubid, system}
@@ -351,6 +422,5 @@ Handles a doctype declaration.
\begin{methoddesc}{feed}{data}
Feeds data to the parser.
-
\var{data} is encoded data.
\end{methoddesc}