Document |
an HTML or XML document |
Availability
DOM Level
1 Core
Inherits from/Overrides
Node Document
Subinterfaces
HTMLDocument
Also Implements
- DocumentCSS
-
If the implementation supports the CSS module, the object that
implements this Document interface also implements the DocumentCSS
interface and its getOverrideStyle( ) method.
- DocumentEvent
-
If the implementation supports the Events module, the object that
implements this Document interface also implements the DocumentEvent
interface and its createEvent( ) method.
- DocumentRange
-
If the implementation supports the Range module, the object that
implements this Document interface also implements the DocumentRange
interface and its createRange( ) method.
- DocumentStyle
-
If the implementation supports the StyleSheets module, the object
that implements this Document interface also implements the
DocumentStyle interface and its styleSheets
property.
- DocumentTraversal
-
If the implementation supports the Traversal module, the object that
implements this Document interface also implements the
DocumentTraversal interface and its createNodeIterator(
) and createTreeWalker( ) methods.
- DocumentView
-
If the implementation supports the Views module, the object that
implements this Document interface also implements the DocumentView
interface and its defaultView property.
Because these interfaces define commonly implemented additions to the
Document interface, their properties and methods are listed and
documented here, as if they were directly part of the Document
interface.
Properties
- readonly AbstractView defaultView [DOM Level 2 Views]
-
The
default view of this document. In a web-browser environment, this
property specifies the Window object (which implements the
AbstractView interface) in which the document is displayed.
Note that this property is technically part of the DocumentView
interface; it is defined by the Document object only in
implementations that support the Views module.
- readonly DocumentType doctype
-
For
XML documents with a <!DOCTYPE> declaration,
specifies a DocumentType node that represents the document's
DTD. For HTML documents and for XML documents with no
<!DOCTYPE>, this property is
null. Note that the property is read-only, and the
node to which it refers is also read-only.
- readonly Element documentElement
-
A
reference to the root element of the document. For HTML documents,
this property is always the Element object representing the
<html> tag. This root element is also
available through the childNodes[] array inherited
from Node.
- readonly DOMImplementation implementation
-
The
DOMImplementation object that represents the implementation that
created this document.
- readonly StyleSheetList styleSheets [DOM Level 2 StyleSheets]
-
A
collection of objects representing all style sheets embedded in or
linked into a document. In HTML documents, this includes style sheets
defined with <link> and
<style> tags.
Note that this property is technically part of the DocumentStyle
interface; it is defined by the Document object only in
implementations that support the StyleSheets module.
Methods
- createAttribute( )
-
Creates a new Attr node with the specified name.
- createAttributeNS( ) [DOM Level 2]
-
Creates a new Attr node with the specified name and namespace.
- createCDATASection( )
-
Creates a new CDATASection node containing the specified text.
- createComment( )
-
Creates a new Comment node containing the specified string.
- createDocumentFragment( )
-
Creates a new, empty DocumentFragment node.
- createElement( )
-
Creates a new Element node with the specified tag name.
- createElementNS( ) [DOM Level 2]
-
Creates a new Element node with the specified tag name and namespace.
- createEntityReference( )
-
Creates a new EntityReference node that refers to an entity with the
specified name. If the DocumentType object for this document defines
an Entity with that name, the newly created EntityReference node is
given the same read-only children that the Entity node has.
- createEvent( ) [DOM Level 2 Events]
-
Creates a new synthetic Event object of the named type. Technically,
this method is defined by the DocumentEvent interface; it is
implemented by the Document object only in implementations that
support the Events module.
- createNodeIterator( ) [DOM Level 2 Traversal]
-
Creates a NodeIterator object. This method is technically part of the
DocumentTraversal interface; it is implemented by the Document object
only in implementations that support the Traversal module.
- createProcessingInstruction( )
-
Creates a new ProcessingInstruction node with the specified target
and data string.
- createRange( ) [DOM Level 2 Range]
-
Creates a new Range object. This method is technically part of the
DocumentRange interface; it is implemented by the Document object
only in implementations that support the Range module.
- createTextNode( )
-
Creates a new Text node to represent the specified text.
- createTreeWalker( ) [DOM Level 2 Traversal]
-
Creates a TreeWalker object. This method is technically part of the
DocumentTraversal interface; it is implemented by the Document object
only in implementations that support the Traversal module.
- getElementById( ) [DOM Level 2]
-
Returns a descendant Element of this document that has the specified
value for its id attribute, or
null if no such Element exists in the document.
- getElementsByTagName( )
-
Returns an array (technically a NodeList) of all Element nodes in
this document that have the specified tag name. The Element nodes
appear in the returned array in the order in which they appear in the
document source.
- getElementsByTagNameNS( ) [DOM Level 2]
-
Returns an array of all Element nodes that have the specified tag
name and namespace.
- getOverrideStyle( ) [DOM Level 2 CSS]
-
Gets the CSS override style information for the specified Element
(and an optional named pseudoelement). This method is technically
part of the DocumentCSS interface; it is implemented by the Document
object only in implementations that support the CSS module.
- importNode( ) [DOM Level 2]
-
Makes a copy of a node from some other document that is suitable for
insertion into this document.
Description
The Document interface is the root node of a document tree. A
Document node may have multiple children, but only one of those
children may be an Element node: it is the root element of the
document. The root element is most easily accessed through the
documentElement property. The
doctype and implementation
properties provide access to the DocumentType object (if any) and the
DOMImplementation object for this document.
Most of the methods defined by the Document interface are
"factory methods" that are used to create various types
of nodes that can be inserted into this document. The notable
exceptions are getElementById( ) and
getElementsByTagName( ), which are quite useful
for finding a specific Element or a set of related Element nodes
within the document tree.
Contrast this Document object to the Document object documented in
the client-side reference section of this book. The Level 0
properties and methods of that client-side Document object are
formally defined by the DOM standard in the HTMLDocument interface.
See HTMLDocument in this reference section for the DOM
equivalent of the traditional client-side JavaScript Document object.
The Document interface is defined by the Core module of the DOM Level
2 specification. A number of the other modules define
"add-on" interfaces that are intended to be implemented
by the same object that implements the Document interface. For
example, if an implementation supports the CSS module, the object
that implements this interface also implements the DocumentCSS
interface. In JavaScript, the properties and methods of these add-on
interfaces can be used as if they were defined by Document, and for
that reason, those methods and properties are listed here. See the
earlier Section section for a full list of the
add-on interfaces for Document.
See Also
HTMLDocument
Type of
AbstractView.document, HTMLFrameElement.contentDocument,
HTMLIFrameElement.contentDocument, HTMLObjectElement.contentDocument,
Node.ownerDocument
Returned by
DOMImplementation.createDocument( )
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