public abstract class

SAXParserFactory

extends Object
java.lang.Object
   ↳ javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory

Class Overview

Defines a factory API that enables applications to configure and obtain a SAX based parser to parse XML documents.

Summary

Protected Constructors
SAXParserFactory()

Protected constructor to force use of newInstance().

Public Methods
abstract boolean getFeature(String name)

Returns the particular property requested for in the underlying implementation of org.xml.sax.XMLReader.

Schema getSchema()
Gets the Schema object specified through the setSchema(Schema) method.
boolean isNamespaceAware()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which are namespace aware.
boolean isValidating()
Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which validate the XML content during parse.
boolean isXIncludeAware()

Get state of XInclude processing.

static SAXParserFactory newInstance(String factoryClassName, ClassLoader classLoader)

Obtain a new instance of a SAXParserFactory from class name.

static SAXParserFactory newInstance()
Obtain a new instance of a SAXParserFactory.
abstract SAXParser newSAXParser()

Creates a new instance of a SAXParser using the currently configured factory parameters.

abstract void setFeature(String name, boolean value)

Sets the particular feature in the underlying implementation of org.xml.sax.XMLReader.

void setNamespaceAware(boolean awareness)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will provide support for XML namespaces.
void setSchema(Schema schema)

Set the Schema to be used by parsers created from this factory.

void setValidating(boolean validating)
Specifies that the parser produced by this code will validate documents as they are parsed.
void setXIncludeAware(boolean state)

Set state of XInclude processing.

[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Protected Constructors

protected SAXParserFactory ()

Protected constructor to force use of newInstance().

Public Methods

public abstract boolean getFeature (String name)

Returns the particular property requested for in the underlying implementation of org.xml.sax.XMLReader.

Parameters
name The name of the property to be retrieved.
Returns
  • Value of the requested property.
Throws
ParserConfigurationException if a parser cannot be created which satisfies the requested configuration.
SAXNotRecognizedException When the underlying XMLReader does not recognize the property name.
SAXNotSupportedException When the underlying XMLReader recognizes the property name but doesn't support the property.

public Schema getSchema ()

Gets the Schema object specified through the setSchema(Schema) method.

Returns
Throws
UnsupportedOperationException When implementation does not override this method

public boolean isNamespaceAware ()

Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which are namespace aware.

Returns
  • true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which are namespace aware; false otherwise.

public boolean isValidating ()

Indicates whether or not the factory is configured to produce parsers which validate the XML content during parse.

Returns
  • true if the factory is configured to produce parsers which validate the XML content during parse; false otherwise.

public boolean isXIncludeAware ()

Get state of XInclude processing.

Returns
  • current state of XInclude processing
Throws
UnsupportedOperationException When implementation does not override this method

public static SAXParserFactory newInstance (String factoryClassName, ClassLoader classLoader)

Obtain a new instance of a SAXParserFactory from class name. This function is useful when there are multiple providers in the classpath. It gives more control to the application as it can specify which provider should be loaded.

Once an application has obtained a reference to a SAXParserFactory it can use the factory to configure and obtain parser instances.

Tip for Trouble-shooting

Setting the jaxp.debug system property will cause this method to print a lot of debug messages to System.err about what it is doing and where it is looking at.

If you have problems, try:

 java -Djaxp.debug=1 YourProgram ....
 

Parameters
factoryClassName fully qualified factory class name that provides implementation of javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory.
classLoader ClassLoader used to load the factory class. If null current Thread's context classLoader is used to load the factory class.
Returns
  • New instance of a SAXParserFactory
Throws
FactoryConfigurationError if factoryClassName is null, or the factory class cannot be loaded, instantiated.
See Also

public static SAXParserFactory newInstance ()

Obtain a new instance of a SAXParserFactory. This static method creates a new factory instance This method uses the following ordered lookup procedure to determine the SAXParserFactory implementation class to load:

  • Use the javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory system property.
  • Use the properties file "lib/jaxp.properties" in the JRE directory. This configuration file is in standard java.util.Properties format and contains the fully qualified name of the implementation class with the key being the system property defined above. The jaxp.properties file is read only once by the JAXP implementation and it's values are then cached for future use. If the file does not exist when the first attempt is made to read from it, no further attempts are made to check for its existence. It is not possible to change the value of any property in jaxp.properties after it has been read for the first time.
  • Use the Services API (as detailed in the JAR specification), if available, to determine the classname. The Services API will look for a classname in the file META-INF/services/javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory in jars available to the runtime.
  • Platform default SAXParserFactory instance.
Once an application has obtained a reference to a SAXParserFactory it can use the factory to configure and obtain parser instances.

Tip for Trouble-shooting

Setting the jaxp.debug system property will cause this method to print a lot of debug messages to System.err about what it is doing and where it is looking at.

If you have problems loading DocumentBuilders, try:

 java -Djaxp.debug=1 YourProgram ....
 

Returns
  • A new instance of a SAXParserFactory.
Throws
FactoryConfigurationError if the implementation is not available or cannot be instantiated.

public abstract SAXParser newSAXParser ()

Creates a new instance of a SAXParser using the currently configured factory parameters.

Returns
  • A new instance of a SAXParser.
Throws
ParserConfigurationException if a parser cannot be created which satisfies the requested configuration.
SAXException for SAX errors.

public abstract void setFeature (String name, boolean value)

Sets the particular feature in the underlying implementation of org.xml.sax.XMLReader. A list of the core features and properties can be found at http://www.saxproject.org/

All implementations are required to support the FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING feature. When the feature is

  • true: the implementation will limit XML processing to conform to implementation limits. Examples include enity expansion limits and XML Schema constructs that would consume large amounts of resources. If XML processing is limited for security reasons, it will be reported via a call to the registered fatalError(SAXParseException). See SAXParser parse methods for handler specification.
  • When the feature is false, the implementation will processing XML according to the XML specifications without regard to possible implementation limits.

Parameters
name The name of the feature to be set.
value The value of the feature to be set.
Throws
ParserConfigurationException if a parser cannot be created which satisfies the requested configuration.
SAXNotRecognizedException When the underlying XMLReader does not recognize the property name.
SAXNotSupportedException When the underlying XMLReader recognizes the property name but doesn't support the property.
NullPointerException If the name parameter is null.

public void setNamespaceAware (boolean awareness)

Specifies that the parser produced by this code will provide support for XML namespaces. By default the value of this is set to false.

Parameters
awareness true if the parser produced by this code will provide support for XML namespaces; false otherwise.

public void setSchema (Schema schema)

Set the Schema to be used by parsers created from this factory.

When a Schema is non-null, a parser will use a validator created from it to validate documents before it passes information down to the application.

When warnings/errors/fatal errors are found by the validator, the parser must handle them as if those errors were found by the parser itself. In other words, if the user-specified ErrorHandler is set, it must receive those errors, and if not, they must be treated according to the implementation specific default error handling rules.

A validator may modify the SAX event stream (for example by adding default values that were missing in documents), and a parser is responsible to make sure that the application will receive those modified event stream.

Initialy, null is set as the Schema.

This processing will take effect even if the isValidating() method returns false.

It is an error to use the http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/properties/schemaSource property and/or the http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/properties/schemaLanguage property in conjunction with a non-null Schema object. Such configuration will cause a SAXException exception when those properties are set on a SAXParser.

Note for implmentors

A parser must be able to work with any Schema implementation. However, parsers and schemas are allowed to use implementation-specific custom mechanisms as long as they yield the result described in the specification.

Parameters
schema Schema to use, null to remove a schema.
Throws
UnsupportedOperationException When implementation does not override this method

public void setValidating (boolean validating)

Specifies that the parser produced by this code will validate documents as they are parsed. By default the value of this is set to false.

Note that "the validation" here means a validating parser as defined in the XML recommendation. In other words, it essentially just controls the DTD validation. (except the legacy two properties defined in JAXP 1.2.)

To use modern schema languages such as W3C XML Schema or RELAX NG instead of DTD, you can configure your parser to be a non-validating parser by leaving the setValidating(boolean) method false, then use the setSchema(Schema) method to associate a schema to a parser.

Parameters
validating true if the parser produced by this code will validate documents as they are parsed; false otherwise.

public void setXIncludeAware (boolean state)

Set state of XInclude processing.

If XInclude markup is found in the document instance, should it be processed as specified in XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0.

XInclude processing defaults to false.

Parameters
state Set XInclude processing to true or false
Throws
UnsupportedOperationException When implementation does not override this method