## net.sf.saxon.om
Interface Item

All Superinterfaces:
  PullEvent, ValueRepresentation

All Known Subinterfaces:
  DocumentInfo, FunctionItem, MutableNodeInfo, NodeInfo, SiblingCountingNode, VirtualNode

All Known Implementing Classes:
  AbsentExtensionElement, AbstractFunctionItem, AnnotationParent, AnyURIValue, AtomicValue, Base64BinaryValue, BigIntegerValue, BooleanValue, CalendarValue, CoercedFunction, CurriedFunction, DataElement, DateTimeValue, DateValue, DayTimeDurationValue, DecimalValue, DocumentImpl, DocumentWrapper, DocumentWrapper, DocumentWrapper, DocumentWrapper, DoubleValue, DurationValue, ElementImpl, ExtensionInstruction, FirstClassFunction, FleetingDocumentNode, FleetingElementNode, FleetingNode, FloatValue, GDateValue, GDayValue, GMonthDayValue, GMonthValue, GYearMonthValue, GYearValue, HexBinaryValue, Int64Value, IntegerValue, LiteralResultElement, NamespaceIterator.NamespaceNodeImpl, NodeImpl, NodeWrapper, NodeWrapper, NodeWrapper, NodeWrapper, NotationValue, NumericValue, ObjectValue, Orphan, PrecisionDecimalValue, QNameValue, QualifiedNameValue, SaxonAssign, SaxonCallTemplate, SaxonCollation, SaxonDoctype, SaxonEntityRef, SaxonImportQuery, SaxonParam, SaxonPreprocess, SaxonWhile, SchemaElement, SpaceStrippedDocument, SpaceStrippedNode, SQLClose, SQLColumn, SQLConnect, SQLDelete, SQLExecute, SQLInsert, SQLQuery, SQLUpdate, StringValue, StyleElement, TextFragmentValue, TimeValue, TinyDocumentImpl, TinyElementImpl, TinyNodeImpl, TinyParentNodeImpl, TinyTextImpl, TypeStrippedDocument, TypeStrippedNode, UnconstructedDocument, UnconstructedElement, UnconstructedParent, UnknownElement, UntypedAtomicValue, UserFunctionItem, VirtualCopy, VirtualDocumentCopy, VirtualUntypedCopy, WhitespaceTextImpl, XSDAlternative, XSDAnnotation, XSDAny, XSDAnyAttribute, XSDAssert, XSDAttribute, XSDAttributeGroup, XSDComplexContent, XSDComplexContentRestriction, XSDComplexType, XSDCompositor, XSDDefaultOpenContent, XSDDocumentation, XSDElement, XSDExtension, XSDFacet, XSDFieldOrSelector, XSDGroup, XSDIdentityConstraint, XSDImport, XSDInclude, XSDList, XSDNotation, XSDOpenContent, XSDOverride, XSDRedefine, XSDSchema, XSDSimpleContent, XSDSimpleContentRestriction, XSDSimpleType, XSDSimpleTypeRestriction, XSDUnion, XSLAnalyzeString, XSLApplyImports, XSLApplyTemplates, XSLAttribute, XSLAttributeSet, XSLBreak, XSLBreakOrContinue, XSLCallTemplate, XSLCatch, XSLCharacterMap, XSLChoose, XSLComment, XSLCopy, XSLCopyOf, XSLDecimalFormat, XSLDocument, XSLElement, XSLEvaluate, XSLFallback, XSLForEach, XSLForEachGroup, XSLFork, XSLFunction, XSLGeneralIncorporate, XSLGeneralVariable, XSLIf, XSLImport, XSLImportSchema, XSLInclude, XSLIterate, XSLKey, XSLLeafNodeConstructor, XSLMatchingSubstring, XSLMessage, XSLMode, XSLNamespace, XSLNamespaceAlias, XSLNextIteration, XSLNextMatch, XSLNumber, XSLOnCompletion, XSLOtherwise, XSLOutput, XSLOutputCharacter, XSLParam, XSLPerformSort, XSLPreserveSpace, XSLProcessingInstruction, XSLResultDocument, XSLSequence, XSLSort, XSLStylesheet, XSLTemplate, XSLText, XSLTry, XSLValueOf, XSLVariable, XSLVariableDeclaration, XSLWhen, XSLWithParam, YearMonthDurationValue

    public interface Item

extends ValueRepresentation, PullEvent

An Item is an object that can occur as a member of a sequence. It corresponds directly to the concept of an item in the XPath 2.0 data model. There are two kinds of Item: atomic values, and nodes.

This interface is part of the public Saxon API. As such (starting from Saxon 8.4), methods that form part of the stable API are labelled with a JavaDoc "since" tag to identify the Saxon release at which they were introduced.

Note: there is no method getItemType(). This is to avoid having to implement it on every implementation of NodeInfo. Instead, use the static method Type.getItemType(Item).

Since:
  8.4
Author:
  Michael H. Kay

Field Summary

Fields inherited from interface net.sf.saxon.om.ValueRepresentation
`EMPTY_VALUE_ARRAY`

Method Summary
`String` `getStringValue()` Get the value of the item as a string.
`CharSequence` `getStringValueCS()` Get the string value of the item as a CharSequence.
`SequenceIterator` `getTypedValue()` Get the typed value of the item.

Method Detail

### getStringValue

    String getStringValue()

  Get the value of the item as a string. For nodes, this is the string value of the node as defined in the XPath 2.0 data model, except that all nodes are treated as being untyped: it is not an error to get the string value of a node with a complex type. For atomic values, the method returns the result of casting the atomic value to a string.

  If the calling code can handle any CharSequence, the method `getStringValueCS()` should be used. If the caller requires a string, this method is preferred.

  Specified by:
    `getStringValue` in interface `ValueRepresentation`
  Returns:
    the string value of the item
  Throws:
    `UnsupportedOperationException` - if the item is a function item (an unchecked exception is used here to avoid introducing exception handling to a large number of paths where it is not needed)
  Since:
    8.4
  See Also:
    `getStringValueCS()`

### getStringValueCS

    CharSequence getStringValueCS()

  Get the string value of the item as a CharSequence. This is in some cases more efficient than the version of the method that returns a String. The method satisfies the rule that `X.getStringValueCS().toString()` returns a string that is equal to `X.getStringValue()`.

  Note that two CharSequence values of different types should not be compared using equals(), and for the same reason they should not be used as a key in a hash table.

  If the calling code can handle any CharSequence, this method should be used. If the caller requires a string, the `getStringValue()` method is preferred.

  Specified by:
    `getStringValueCS` in interface `ValueRepresentation`
  Returns:
    the string value of the item
  Throws:
    `UnsupportedOperationException` - if the item is a function item (an unchecked exception is used here to avoid introducing exception handling to a large number of paths where it is not needed)
  Since:
    8.4
  See Also:
    `getStringValue()`

### getTypedValue

    SequenceIterator getTypedValue()
                                   throws XPathException

  Get the typed value of the item.

  For a node, this is the typed value as defined in the XPath 2.0 data model. Since a node may have a list-valued data type, the typed value is in general a sequence, and it is returned in the form of a SequenceIterator.

  If the node has not been validated against a schema, the typed value will be the same as the string value, either as an instance of xs:string or as an instance of xs:untypedAtomic, depending on the node kind.

  For an atomic value, this method returns an iterator over a singleton sequence containing the atomic value itself.

  Returns:
    an iterator over the items in the typed value of the node or atomic value. The items returned by this iterator will always be atomic values.
  Throws:
    `XPathException` - where no typed value is available, for example in the case of an element with complex content
  Since:
    8.4

Copyright (c) 2004-2010 Saxonica Limited. All rights reserved.