Module java.xml

Class ValidatorHandler

java.lang.Object
javax.xml.validation.ValidatorHandler
All Implemented Interfaces:
ContentHandler

public abstract class ValidatorHandler
extends Object
implements ContentHandler
Streaming validator that works on SAX stream.

A ValidatorHandler object is not thread-safe and not reentrant. In other words, it is the application's responsibility to make sure that one ValidatorHandler object is not used from more than one thread at any given time.

ValidatorHandler checks if the SAX events follow the set of constraints described in the associated Schema, and additionally it may modify the SAX events (for example by adding default values, etc.)

ValidatorHandler extends from ContentHandler, but it refines the underlying ContentHandler in the following way:

  1. startElement/endElement events must receive non-null String for uri, localName, and qname, even though SAX allows some of them to be null. Similarly, the user-specified ContentHandler will receive non-null Strings for all three parameters.
  2. Applications must ensure that ValidatorHandler's ContentHandler.startPrefixMapping(String,String) and ContentHandler.endPrefixMapping(String) are invoked properly. Similarly, the user-specified ContentHandler will receive startPrefixMapping/endPrefixMapping events. If the ValidatorHandler introduces additional namespace bindings, the user-specified ContentHandler will receive additional startPrefixMapping/endPrefixMapping events.
  3. Attributes for the ContentHandler.startElement(String,String,String,Attributes) method may or may not include xmlns* attributes.

A ValidatorHandler is automatically reset every time the startDocument method is invoked.

Recognized Properties and Features

This spec defines the following feature that must be recognized by all ValidatorHandler implementations.

http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes

This feature controls how a ValidatorHandler introduces namespace bindings that were not present in the original SAX event stream. When this feature is set to true, it must make sure that the user's ContentHandler will see the corresponding xmlns* attribute in the Attributes object of the ContentHandler.startElement(String,String,String,Attributes) callback. Otherwise, xmlns* attributes must not be added to Attributes that's passed to the user-specified ContentHandler.

(Note that regardless of this switch, namespace bindings are always notified to applications through ContentHandler.startPrefixMapping(String,String) and ContentHandler.endPrefixMapping(String) methods of the ContentHandler specified by the user.)

Note that this feature does NOT affect the way a ValidatorHandler receives SAX events. It merely changes the way it augments SAX events.

This feature is set to false by default.

Since:
1.5