1 // EntityResolver2.java - Extended SAX entity resolver.
2 // http://www.saxproject.org
3 // No warranty; no copyright -- use this as you will.
4 // $Id: EntityResolver2.java,v 1.2 2002/01/12 19:20:08 dbrownell Exp $
6 package org.xml.sax.ext;
8 import java.io.IOException;
10 import org.xml.sax.EntityResolver;
11 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
12 import org.xml.sax.XMLReader;
13 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
17 * Extended interface for mapping external entity references to input
18 * sources, or providing a missing external subset. The
19 * {@link XMLReader#setEntityResolver XMLReader.setEntityResolver()} method
20 * is used to provide implementations of this interface to parsers.
21 * When a parser uses the methods in this interface, the
22 * {@link EntityResolver2#resolveEntity EntityResolver2.resolveEntity()}
23 * method (in this interface) is used <em>instead of</em> the older (SAX 1.0)
24 * {@link EntityResolver#resolveEntity EntityResolver.resolveEntity()} method.
27 * <em>This module, both source code and documentation, is in the
28 * Public Domain, and comes with <strong>NO WARRANTY</strong>.</em>
31 * <p>If a SAX application requires the customized handling which this
32 * interface defines for external entities, it must ensure that it uses
33 * an XMLReader with the
34 * <em>http://xml.org/sax/features/use-entity-resolver2</em> feature flag
35 * set to <em>true</em> (which is its default value when the feature is
36 * recognized). If that flag is unrecognized, or its value is false,
37 * or the resolver does not implement this interface, then only the
38 * {@link EntityResolver} method will be used.
41 * <p>That supports three categories of application that modify entity
42 * resolution. <em>Old Style</em> applications won't know about this interface;
43 * they will provide an EntityResolver.
44 * <em>Transitional Mode</em> provide an EntityResolver2 and automatically
45 * get the benefit of its methods in any systems (parsers or other tools)
46 * supporting it, due to polymorphism.
47 * Both <em>Old Style</em> and <em>Transitional Mode</em> applications will
48 * work with any SAX2 parser.
49 * <em>New style</em> applications will fail to run except on SAX2 parsers
50 * that support this particular feature.
51 * They will insist that feature flag have a value of "true", and the
52 * EntityResolver2 implementation they provide might throw an exception
53 * if the original SAX 1.0 style entity resolution method is invoked.
56 * @see org.xml.sax.XMLReader#setEntityResolver
58 * @since SAX 2.0 (extensions 1.1 alpha)
59 * @author David Brownell
62 public interface EntityResolver2 extends EntityResolver
65 * Allows applications to provide an external subset for documents
66 * that don't explicitly define one. Documents with DOCTYPE declarations
67 * that omit an external subset can thus augment the declarations
68 * available for validation, entity processing, and attribute processing
69 * (normalization, defaulting, and reporting types including ID).
70 * This augmentation is reported
71 * through the {@link LexicalHandler#startDTD startDTD()} method as if
72 * the document text had originally included the external subset;
73 * this callback is made before any internal subset data or errors
76 * <p>This method can also be used with documents that have no DOCTYPE
77 * declaration. When the root element is encountered,
78 * but no DOCTYPE declaration has been seen, this method is
79 * invoked. If it returns a value for the external subset, that root
80 * element is declared to be the root element, giving the effect of
81 * splicing a DOCTYPE declaration at the end the prolog of a document
82 * that could not otherwise be valid. The sequence of parser callbacks
83 * in that case logically resembles this:</p>
86 * ... comments and PIs from the prolog (as usual)
87 * startDTD ("rootName", source.getPublicId (), source.getSystemId ());
88 * startEntity ("[dtd]");
89 * ... declarations, comments, and PIs from the external subset
90 * endEntity ("[dtd]");
92 * ... then the rest of the document (as usual)
93 * startElement (..., "rootName", ...);
96 * <p>Note that the InputSource gets no further resolution.
97 * Implementations of this method may wish to invoke
98 * {@link #resolveEntity resolveEntity()} to gain benefits such as use
99 * of local caches of DTD entities. Also, this method will never be
100 * used by a (non-validating) processor that is not including external
101 * parameter entities. </p>
103 * <p>Uses for this method include facilitating data validation when
104 * interoperating with XML processors that would always require
105 * undesirable network accesses for external entities, or which for
106 * other reasons adopt a "no DTDs" policy.
107 * Non-validation motives include forcing documents to include DTDs so
108 * that attributes are handled consistently.
109 * For example, an XPath processor needs to know which attibutes have
110 * type "ID" before it can process a widely used type of reference.</p>
112 * <p><strong>Warning:</strong> Returning an external subset modifies
113 * the input document. By providing definitions for general entities,
114 * it can make a malformed document appear to be well formed.
117 * @param name Identifies the document root element. This name comes
118 * from a DOCTYPE declaration (where available) or from the actual
120 * @param baseURI The document's base URI, serving as an additional
121 * hint for selecting the external subset. This is always an absolute
122 * URI, unless it is null because the XMLReader was given an InputSource
125 * @return An InputSource object describing the new external subset
126 * to be used by the parser, or null to indicate that no external
127 * subset is provided.
129 * @exception SAXException Any SAX exception, possibly wrapping
131 * @exception IOException Probably indicating a failure to create
132 * a new InputStream or Reader, or an illegal URL.
134 public InputSource getExternalSubset (String name, String baseURI)
135 throws SAXException, IOException;
138 * Allows applications to map references to external entities into input
139 * sources, or tell the parser it should use conventional URI resolution.
140 * This method is only called for external entities which have been
142 * This method provides more flexibility than the {@link EntityResolver}
143 * interface, supporting implementations of more complex catalogue
144 * schemes such as the one defined by the <a href=
145 "http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/entity/spec-2001-08-06.html"
146 >OASIS XML Catalogs</a> specification.</p>
148 * <p>Parsers configured to use this resolver method will call it
149 * to determine the input source to use for any external entity
150 * being included because of a reference in the XML text.
151 * That excludes the document entity, and any external entity returned
152 * by {@link #getExternalSubset getExternalSubset()}.
153 * When a (non-validating) processor is configured not to include
154 * a class of entities (parameter or general) through use of feature
155 * flags, this method is not invoked for such entities. </p>
157 * <p>Note that the entity naming scheme used here is the same one
158 * used in the {@link LexicalHandler}, or in the {@link
159 org.xml.sax.ContentHandler#skippedEntity
160 ContentHandler.skippedEntity()}
163 * @param name Identifies the external entity being resolved.
164 * Either "[dtd]" for the external subset, or a name starting
165 * with "%" to indicate a parameter entity, or else the name of
166 * a general entity. This is never null when invoked by a SAX2
168 * @param publicId The public identifier of the external entity being
169 * referenced (normalized as required by the XML specification), or
170 * null if none was supplied.
171 * @param baseURI The URI with respect to which relative systemIDs
172 * are interpreted. This is always an absolute URI, unless it is
173 * null (likely because the XMLReader was given an InputSource without
174 * one). This URI is defined by the XML specification to be the one
175 * associated with the "<" starting the relevant declaration.
176 * @param systemId The system identifier of the external entity
177 * being referenced; either a relative or absolute URI.
178 * This is never null when invoked by a SAX2 parser; only declared
179 * entities, and any external subset, are resolved by such parsers.
181 * @return An InputSource object describing the new input source to
182 * be used by the parser. Returning null directs the parser to
183 * resolve the system ID against the base URI and open a connection
186 * @exception SAXException Any SAX exception, possibly wrapping
188 * @exception IOException Probably indicating a failure to create
189 * a new InputStream or Reader, or an illegal URL.
191 public InputSource resolveEntity (
196 ) throws SAXException, IOException;