CopperSpice API  1.9.1
QXmlName Class Reference

The QXmlName class represents the name of an XML node, in an efficient, namespace-aware way. More...

Public Methods

 QXmlName ()
 
 QXmlName (QXmlNamePool &namePool, const QString &localName, const QString &namespaceURI=QString (), const QString &prefix=QString ())
 
bool isNull () const
 
QString localName (const QXmlNamePool &namePool) const
 
QString namespaceUri (const QXmlNamePool &namePool) const
 
bool operator!= (const QXmlName &other) const
 
QXmlName & operator= (const QXmlName &other) = default
 
bool operator== (const QXmlName &other) const
 
QString prefix (const QXmlNamePool &namePool) const
 
QString toClarkName (const QXmlNamePool &namePool) const
 

Static Public Methods

static QXmlName fromClarkName (const QString &clarkName, const QXmlNamePool &namePool)
 
static bool isNCName (const QString &candidate)
 

Friends

uint qHash (const QXmlName &name)
 

Detailed Description

The QXmlName class represents the name of an XML node, in an efficient, namespace-aware way.

QXmlName represents the name of an XML node in a way that is both efficient and safe for comparing names. Normally, an XML node represents an XML element or attribute, but QXmlName can also represent the names of other kinds of nodes, e.g., QAbstractXmlReceiver::processingInstruction() and QAbstractXmlReceiver::namespaceBinding().

The name of an XML node has three components: The namespace URI, the local name, and the prefix. To see what these refer to in XML, consider the following snippet.

<book xmlns:dc='http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1' xmlns='http://example.com/MyDefault'>
<dc:title>Mobey Dick</dc:title>
</book>

For the element named book, localName() returns book, namespaceUri() returns http://example.com/MyDefault, and prefix() returns an empty string. For the element named title, localName() returns title, namespaceUri() returns http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1, and prefix() returns dc.

To ensure that operations with QXmlName are efficient, e.g., copying names and comparing them, each instance of QXmlName is associated with a name pool, which must be specified at QXmlName construction time. The three components of the QXmlName, i.e., the namespace URI, the local name, and the prefix, are stored in the name pool mapped to identifiers so they can be shared. For this reason, the only way to create a valid instance of QXmlName is to use the class constructor, where the name pool, local name, namespace URI, and prefix must all be specified.

Note that QXmlName's default constructor constructs a null instance. It is typically used for allocating unused entries in collections of QXmlName.

A side effect of associating each instance of QXmlName with a name pool is that each instance of QXmlName is tied to the QXmlNamePool with which it was created. However, the QXmlName class does not keep track of the name pool, so all the accessor functions, e.g., namespaceUri(), prefix(), localName(), and toClarkName() require that the correct name pool be passed to them. Failure to provide the correct name pool to these accessor functions results in undefined behavior.

Note that a name pool is not an XML namespace. One name pool can represent instances of QXmlName from different XML namespaces, and the instances of QXmlName from one XML namespace can be distributed over multiple name pools.

Comparing QXmlNames

To determine what a QXmlName refers to, the namespace URI and the local name are used. The prefix is not used because the prefix is simply a shorthand name for use in place of the normally much longer namespace URI. Nor is the prefix used in name comparisons. For example, the following two element nodes represent the same element and compare equal.

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"/>
<x:svg xmlns:x="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"/>

Although the second name has the prefix x, the two names compare equal as instances of QXmlName, because the prefix is not used in the comparison.

A local name can never be an empty string, although the prefix and namespace URI can. If the prefix is not empty, the namespace URI can not be empty. Local names and prefixes must be valid NCNames, e.g., abc.def or abc123.

QXmlName represents what is sometimes called an expanded QName, or simply a QName.

See also
Namespaces in XML 1.0 (Second Edition), [4] NCName

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

QXmlName::QXmlName ( )

Constructs an uninitialized QXmlName.

See also
isNull()
QXmlName::QXmlName ( QXmlNamePool namePool,
const QString localName,
const QString namespaceURI = QString(),
const QString prefix = QString() 
)

Constructs a QXmlName instance that inserts localName, namespaceURI and prefix into namePool if they are not already there. The accessor functions namespaceUri(), prefix(), localName(), and toClarkName() must be passed the namePool used here, so the namePool must remain in scope while the accessor functions might be used. However, two instances can be compared with == or != and copied without the namePool.

The user guarantees that the string components are valid for a QName. In particular, the local name, and the prefix (if present), must be valid NCNames. The function isNCName() can be used to test validity of these names. The namespace URI should be an absolute URI. QUrl::isRelative() can be used to test whether the namespace URI is relative or absolute. Finally, providing a prefix is not valid when no namespace URI is provided.

The namePool is not copied. Nor is the reference to it retained in this instance. This constructor inserts the three strings into namePool.

Method Documentation

QXmlName QXmlName::fromClarkName ( const QString clarkName,
const QXmlNamePool namePool 
)
static

Converts clarkName into a QXmlName and inserts into namePool and returns the QXmlName. A clark name is a way to present a full QName with only one string, where the namespace can not contain braces. If the namespace contains braces, the returned value is either invalid or has undefined content. If clarkName is an invalid name, a default constructed QXmlName is returned.

The following are examples.

Clark NameDescription
html Local name html in no namespace
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlhtml Local name html in the XHTML namespace
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlmy:html Local name html in the XHTML namespace, with the prefix my
See also
toClarkName()
bool QXmlName::isNCName ( const QString candidate)
static

Returns true if candidate is an NCName. An NCName is a string that can be used as a name in XML and XQuery, e.g., the prefix or local name in an element or attribute, or the name of a variable.

See also
Namespaces in XML 1.0 (Second Edition), [4] NCName
bool QXmlName::isNull ( ) const

Returns true if this QXmlName is not initialized with a valid combination of namespace URI, local name, and prefix.

A valid local name is always required. The prefix and namespace URI can be empty, but if the prefix is not empty, the namespace URI must not be empty. Local names and prefixes must be valid NCNames, e.g., abc.def or abc123.

QString QXmlName::localName ( const QXmlNamePool namePool) const

Returns the local name.

Note that for efficiency, the local name string is not stored in the QXmlName but in the QXmlNamePool that was passed to the constructor. Hence, that same namePool must be passed to this function, so it can be used for looking up the local name.

QString QXmlName::namespaceUri ( const QXmlNamePool namePool) const

Returns the namespace URI.

Note that for efficiency, the namespace URI string is not stored in the QXmlName but in the QXmlNamePool that was passed to the constructor. Hence, that same namePool must be passed to this function, so it can be used for looking up the namespace URI.

bool QXmlName::operator!= ( const QXmlName &  other) const

Returns true if this QXmlName is not equal to other, otherwise false. Two QXmlNames are equal if their namespace URIs are the same and their local names are the same. They are not equal if either their namespace URIs differ or their local names differ. Their prefixes are ignored.

Note that it is meaningless to compare two instances of QXmlName that were created with different name pools, but the attempt is not detected and the behavior is undefined.

See also
operator==()
QXmlName & QXmlName::operator= ( const QXmlName &  other)
default

Copy assigns from other and returns a reference to this object.

bool QXmlName::operator== ( const QXmlName &  other) const

Returns true if this QXmlName is equal to other, otherwise false. Two QXmlNames are equal if their namespace URIs are the same and their local names are the same. The prefixes are ignored.

Note that it is meaningless to compare two instances of QXmlName that were created with different name pools, but the attempt is not detected and the behavior is undefined.

See also
operator!=()
QString QXmlName::prefix ( const QXmlNamePool namePool) const

Returns the prefix.

Note that for efficiency, the prefix string is not stored in the QXmlName but in the QXmlNamePool that was passed to the constructor. Hence, that same namePool must be passed to this function, so it can be used for looking up the prefix.

QString QXmlName::toClarkName ( const QXmlNamePool namePool) const

Returns this QXmlName formatted as a Clark Name. For example, if the local name is html, the prefix is x, and the namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/, then the Clark Name returned is:

{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/}x:html.

If the local name is MyWidget and the namespace is empty, the Clark Name returned is:

MyWidget

Note that for efficiency, the namespace URI, local name, and prefix strings are not stored in the QXmlName but in the QXmlNamePool that was passed to the constructor. Hence, that same namePool must be passed to this function, so it can be used for looking up the three string components.

This function can be useful for debugging.

See also
XML Namespaces, James Clark, fromClarkName()

Friends And Related Function Documentation

uint qHash ( const QXmlName &  name)
friend

Returns the hash value based on the local name and the namespace URI in name. The prefix in name is not used in the computation.