The Node Object
The Node object represents a single node in the document tree.
A node can be an element node, an attribute node, a text node, or any other of the node types explained in the Node Types chapter.
Notice that while all objects inherits the Node properties / methods for dealing with parents and children, not all objects can have parents or children. For example, Text nodes may not have children, and adding children to such nodes results in a DOM error.
Node Object Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| attributes | A NamedNodeMap containing the attributes of this node (if it is an Element) |
| baseURI | Returns the absolute base URI of a node |
| childNodes | Returns a NodeList of child nodes for a node |
| firstChild | Returns the first child of a node |
| lastChild | Returns the last child of a node |
| nextSibling | Returns the node immediately following a node |
| nodeName | Returns the name of a node, depending on its type |
| nodeType | Returns the type of a node |
| nodeValue | Sets or returns the value of a node, depending on its type |
| ownerDocument | Returns the root element (document object) for a node |
| parentNode | Returns the parent node of a node |
| prefix | Sets or returns the namespace prefix of a node |
| previousSibling | Returns the node immediately before a node |
| textContent | Sets or returns the textual content of a node and its descendants |
Node Object Methods
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| appendChild() | Appends a new child node to the end of the list of children of a node |
| cloneNode() | Clones a node |
| compareDocumentPosition() | Compares the placement of two nodes in the DOM hierarchy (document) |
| getFeature(feature,version) | Returns a DOM object which implements the specialized APIs of the specified feature and version |
| getUserData(key) | Returns the object associated to a key on a this node. The object must first have been set to this node by calling setUserData with the same key |
| hasAttributes() | Returns true if the specified node has any attributes, otherwise false |
| hasChildNodes() | Returns true if the specified node has any child nodes, otherwise false |
| insertBefore() | Inserts a new child node before an existing child node |
| isDefaultNamespace(URI) | Returns whether the specified namespaceURI is the default |
| isEqualNode() | Tests whether two nodes are equal |
| isSameNode() | Tests whether the two nodes are the same node |
| lookupNamespaceURI() | Returns the namespace URI associated with a given prefix |
| lookupPrefix() | Returns the prefix associated with a given namespace URI |
| normalize() | Puts all Text nodes underneath a node (including attribute nodes) into a "normal" form where only structure (e.g., elements, comments, processing instructions, CDATA sections, and entity references) separates Text nodes, i.e., there are neither adjacent Text nodes nor empty Text nodes |
| removeChild() | Removes a specified child node from the current node |
| replaceChild() | Replaces a child node with a new node |
| setUserData(key,data,handler) | Associates an object to a key on a node |