XML DOM - Node object

A node object represents a node in the document tree.

Node object

The Node object is the main data type of the entire DOM.

A node object represents a single node in the document tree.

Nodes can be element nodes, attribute nodes, text nodes, or any type of node introduced in the "Node Type" section.

Please note that while all objects can inherit properties and methods used to handle parent and child nodes, not all objects have parent or child nodes. For example, text nodes cannot have child nodes, so adding child nodes to such nodes will result in a DOM error.

IE: Internet Explorer: F: Firefox: O: Opera: W3C: World Wide Web Consortium (Internet Standards)

Attributes of Node Object

Attribute Description IE F O W3C
baseURI Return the absolute base URI of the node. No 1 No Yes
childNodes Return the node list from the node to its child node. 5 1 9 Yes
firstChild Return the first child node of the node. 5 1 9 Yes
lastChild Return the last child node of the node. 5 1 9 Yes
localName Return the local name of the node. No 1 9 Yes
namespaceURI Return the namespace URI of the node. No 1 9 Yes
nextSibling Return the same-level node immediately following the node. 5 1 9 Yes
nodeName Return the name of the node, depending on its type. 5 1 9 Yes
nodeType Return the type of the node. 5 1 9 Yes
nodeValue Set or return the value of the node, depending on its type. 5 1 9 Yes
ownerDocument Return the root element of the node (document object). 5 1 9 Yes
parentNode Return the parent node of the node. 5 1 9 Yes
prefix Set or return the namespace prefix of the node. No 1 9 Yes
previousSibling Return the same-level node immediately preceding the node. 5 1 9 Yes
textContent Set or return the text content of the node and its descendants. No 1 No Yes
text Return the text of the node and its descendants (IE-specific attribute). 5 No No No
xml Return the XML of the node and its descendants (IE-specific attribute). 5 No No No

Methods of Node Object

Method Description IE F O W3C
appendChild() Add a new child node to the end of the node's child node list. 5 1 9 Yes
cloneNode() Copy a node. 5 1 9 Yes
compareDocumentPosition() Compare the document positions of two nodes. No 1 No Yes
getFeature(feature,version) Return a DOM object that can execute a specialized API with the specified features and versions. 　 　 No Yes
getUserData(key) Return the object associated with a key on this node. This object must first be set to this node by calling setUserData with the same key. 　 　 No Yes
hasAttributes() Determine whether the current node has attributes. No 1 9 Yes
hasChildNodes() Determine whether the current node has child nodes. 5 1 9 Yes
insertBefore() Insert a new child node before the specified child node. 5 1 9 Yes
isDefaultNamespace(URI) Does the specified namespace URI return as the default. 　 　 No Yes
isEqualNode() Check if two nodes are equal. No No No Yes
isSameNode() Check if two nodes are the same node. No 1 No Yes
isSupported() Return whether the current node supports a certain feature. 　 　 9 Yes
lookupNamespaceURI() Return the namespace URI that matches the specified prefix. No 1 No Yes
lookupPrefix() Return the prefix that matches the specified namespace URI. No 1 No Yes
normalize() Merge adjacent Text nodes and delete empty Text nodes. 5 1 9 Yes
removeChild() Delete (and return) the specified child node of the current node. 5 1 9 Yes
replaceChild() Replace a child node with a new node. 5 1 9 Yes
selectNodes() Query selected nodes using an XPath expression. 6 　 　 　
selectSingleNode() Find a node that matches an XPath query. 6 　 　 　
transformNode() Use XSLT to transform a node into a string. 6 　 　 　
transformNodeToObject() Use XSLT to transform a node into a document. 6 　 　 　
setUserData(key, data, handler) Associate an object with a key on a node. 　 　 No Yes