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Note: despite its name, this interface does not extend the standard Java java.io.Reader Reader interface, because reading XML is a fundamentally different activity than reading character data.

XMLReader is the interface that an XML parser's SAX2 driver must implement. This interface allows an application to set and query features and properties in the parser, to register event handlers for document processing, and to initiate a document parse.

All SAX interfaces are assumed to be synchronous: the XMLReader.parse parse methods must not return until parsing is complete, and readers must wait for an event-handler callback to return before reporting the next event.

This interface replaces the (now deprecated) SAX 1.0 org.xml.sax.Parser Parser interface. The XMLReader interface contains two important enhancements over the old Parser interface (as well as some minor ones):

1. it adds a standard way to query and set features and properties; and
2. it adds Namespace support, which is required for many higher-level XML standards.

There are adapters available to convert a SAX1 Parser to a SAX2 XMLReader and vice-versa.

The feature name is any fully-qualified URI.

The property name is any fully-qualified URI.

The application can use this method to instruct the XML reader to begin parsing an XML document from any valid input source (a character stream, a byte stream, or a URI).

Applications may not invoke this method while a parse is in progress (they should create a new XMLReader instead for each nested XML document).

This method is a shortcut for the common case of reading a document from a system identifier.

If the application does not register an error handler, all error events reported by the SAX parser will be silently ignored; however, normal processing may not continue.

The feature name is any fully-qualified URI.

The property name is any fully-qualified URI.

The feature name is any fully-qualified URI. It is possible for an XMLReader to recognize a feature name but temporarily be unable to return its value. Some feature values may be available only in specific contexts, such as before, during, or after a parse. Also, some feature values may not be programmatically accessible. (In the case of an adapter for SAX1 Parser , there is no implementation-independent way to expose whether the underlying parser is performing validation, expanding external entities, and so forth.)

All XMLReaders are required to recognize the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces and the http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes feature names.

Typical usage is something like this:

 XMLReader r = new MySAXDriver();
 // try to activate validation
 try {
 r.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/validation", true);
 } catch (SAXException e) {
 System.err.println("Cannot activate validation."); 
 }
 // register event handlers
 r.setContentHandler(new MyContentHandler());
 r.setErrorHandler(new MyErrorHandler());
 // parse the first document
 try {
 r.parse("http://www.foo.com/mydoc.xml");
 } catch (IOException e) {
 System.err.println("I/O exception reading XML document");
 } catch (SAXException e) {
 System.err.println("XML exception reading document.");
 }
 

Implementors are free (and encouraged) to invent their own features, using names built on their own URIs.

The property name is any fully-qualified URI. It is possible for an XMLReader to recognize a property name but temporarily be unable to return its value. Some property values may be available only in specific contexts, such as before, during, or after a parse.

XMLReaders are not required to recognize any specific property names, though an initial core set is documented for SAX2.

Implementors are free (and encouraged) to invent their own properties, using names built on their own URIs.

The application can use this method to instruct the XML reader to begin parsing an XML document from any valid input source (a character stream, a byte stream, or a URI).

Applications may not invoke this method while a parse is in progress (they should create a new XMLReader instead for each nested XML document). Once a parse is complete, an application may reuse the same XMLReader object, possibly with a different input source.

During the parse, the XMLReader will provide information about the XML document through the registered event handlers.

This method is synchronous: it will not return until parsing has ended. If a client application wants to terminate parsing early, it should throw an exception.

This method is a shortcut for the common case of reading a document from a system identifier. It is the exact equivalent of the following:

 parse(new InputSource(systemId));
 

If the system identifier is a URL, it must be fully resolved by the application before it is passed to the parser.

If the application does not register a content handler, all content events reported by the SAX parser will be silently ignored.

Applications may register a new or different handler in the middle of a parse, and the SAX parser must begin using the new handler immediately.

If the application does not register a DTD handler, all DTD events reported by the SAX parser will be silently ignored.

Applications may register a new or different handler in the middle of a parse, and the SAX parser must begin using the new handler immediately.

If the application does not register an entity resolver, the XMLReader will perform its own default resolution.

Applications may register a new or different resolver in the middle of a parse, and the SAX parser must begin using the new resolver immediately.

If the application does not register an error handler, all error events reported by the SAX parser will be silently ignored; however, normal processing may not continue. It is highly recommended that all SAX applications implement an error handler to avoid unexpected bugs.

Applications may register a new or different handler in the middle of a parse, and the SAX parser must begin using the new handler immediately.

The feature name is any fully-qualified URI. It is possible for an XMLReader to expose a feature value but to be unable to change the current value. Some feature values may be immutable or mutable only in specific contexts, such as before, during, or after a parse.

All XMLReaders are required to support setting http://xml.org/sax/features/namespaces to true and http://xml.org/sax/features/namespace-prefixes to false.

The property name is any fully-qualified URI. It is possible for an XMLReader to recognize a property name but to be unable to change the current value. Some property values may be immutable or mutable only in specific contexts, such as before, during, or after a parse.

XMLReaders are not required to recognize setting any specific property names, though a core set is defined by SAX2.

This method is also the standard mechanism for setting extended handlers.