Errata of the Document Object Model Level 2 Specifications

About the Document Object Model Level 2 Specifications

The Document Object Model Level 2 Specifications was produced by the Document Object Model Working Group (DOM WG) as part of the Document Object Model Activity.

This document lists the known errata to the Document Object Model Level 2 specifications. Each entry has the following information:

• A unique entry number.
• The date it was added to the errata page.
• Whether the entry is considered an important error, a minor typographical error, a clarification, or a known problem with the document itself.
• The guidelines version and section referred to.
• A description of the problem and correction if applicable.

Please send general comments about this document to the public mailing list www-dom@w3.org. An archive is available at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-dom/.

DOM Level 2 Core

core-1. 2001-01-17. [minor typographical error]. Clarification of Extended interfaces introduction

The following sentence should be removed since it is in the DOM HTML specification:

As such, HTML-only DOM implementations [DOM Level 2 HTML] do not need to have objects that implement these interfaces.

core-2. 2001-01-17. [clarification]. Node.appendChild

The sentence:

DOMException.NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly.

should read:

DOMException.NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this node is readonly or if the previous parent of the node being inserted is readonly.

core-3a. 2001-05-09. [error]. DOMImplementation.createDocument

The description:

Creates an XML Document object of the specified type with its document element. HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method..

should read:

Creates a DOM Document object of the specified type with its document element.

The exception:

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, or if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" [Namespaces].

should read:

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, or if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" [Namespaces], or if the DOM implementation does not support the "XML" feature but a non-null namespace URI was provided, since namespaces were defined by XML.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised by DOM implementations which do not support the "XML" feature, if they choose not to support this method. Note: Other features introduced in the future, by the DOM WG or in extensions defined by other groups, may also demand support for this method; please consult the definition of the feature to see if it requires this method.

core-3b. 2001-05-09. [error]. DOMImplementation.createDocumentType

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised by DOM implementations which do not support the "XML" feature, if they choose not to support this method. Note: Other features introduced in the future, by the DOM WG or in extensions defined by other groups, may also demand support for this method; please consult the definition of the feature to see if it requires this method.

core-3c. 2001-05-09. [error]. Document.createAttributeNS

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: Always thrown if the current document does not support the "XML" feature, since namespaces were defined by XML.

(ditto for Document.createElementNS, NamedNodeMap.setNamedItemNS, Element.setAttributeNS, Element.setAttributeNodeNS)

core-3d. 2001-05-09. [error]. Element.getAttributeNS

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following paragraph should be added in the description:

Documents which do not support the "XML" feature will permit only the DOM Level 1 calls for creating/setting elements and attributes. Hence, if you specify a non-null namespace URI, these DOMs will never find a matching node.

(ditto for Element.getAttributeNodeNS, Element.hasAttributeNS, Element.removeAttributeNS, Element.getElementsByTagNameNS, NamedNodeMap.getNamedItemNS, NamedNodeMap.removeNamedItemNS,

core-4. 2001-01-17. [clarification]. NamedNodeMap.setNamedItem

An exception is missing:

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if an attempt is made to add a node doesn't belong in this NamedNodeMap. Examples would include trying to insert something other than an Attr node into an Element's map of attributes, or a non-Entity node into the DocumentType's map of Entities.

(ditto for setNamedItemNS)

core-5. 2001-01-17. [error]. DOMImplementation.hasFeature

The sentence:

To avoid possible conflicts, as a convention, names referring to features defined outside the DOM specification should be made unique by reversing the name of the Internet domain name of the person (or the organization that the person belongs to) who defines the feature, component by component, and using this as a prefix. For instance, the W3C SVG Working Group defines the feature "org.w3c.dom.svg".

should read:

To avoid possible conflicts, as a convention, names referring to features defined outside the DOM specification should be made unique.

core-6. 2001-01-31. [error]. Node.appendChild

The paragraph

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to append is one of this node's ancestors.

should read:

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to append is one of this node's ancestors or this node itself.

core-7. 2001-01-31. [error]. Node.insertBefore

The paragraph

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to insert is one of this node's ancestors.

should read:

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to insert is one of this node's ancestors or this node itself.

core-8. 2001-01-31. [error]. Node.replaceChild

The paragraph

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to put in is one of this node's ancestors.

should read:

DOMException.HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR: Raised if this node is of a type that does not allow children of the type of the newChild node, or if the node to put in is one of this node's ancestors or this node itself.

core-9. 2001-03-22. [clarification]. Document.createAttributeNS

The paragraph

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", or if the qualifiedName is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/".

should read:

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", or if the qualifiedName, or its prefix, is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/".

(ditto for Element.setAttributeNS)

core-10. 2001-05-09. [clarification]. Document.createAttributeNS

The paragraph

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character.

should read:

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character, per the XML 1.0 specification [XML].

The paragraph

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", or if the qualifiedName is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/".

should read:

DOMException.NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed per the Namespaces in XML specification, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", or if the qualifiedName, or its prefix, is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/".

(ditto for Element.setAttributeNS)

core-11. 2001-05-09. [clarification]. Document.createElementNS

The paragraph

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character.

should read:

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character, per the XML 1.0 specification [XML].

The paragraph

NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, or if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" [Namespaces].

should read:

NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the qualifiedName is malformed per the Namespaces in XML specification, if the qualifiedName has a prefix and the namespaceURI is null, or if the qualifiedName has a prefix that is "xml" and the namespaceURI is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" [Namespaces].

core-12. 2001-05-09. [clarification]. Node.prefix

The paragraph

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character.

should read:

DOMException.INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: Raised if the specified qualified name contains an illegal character, per the XML 1.0 specification [XML].

The paragraph

NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the specified prefix is malformed, if the namespaceURI of this node is null, if the specified prefix is "xml" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", if this node is an attribute and the specified prefix is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/", or if this node is an attribute and the qualifiedName of this node is "xmlns" [Namespaces].

should read:

NAMESPACE_ERR: Raised if the specified prefix is malformed per the Namespaces in XML specification, if the namespaceURI of this node is null, if the specified prefix is "xml" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace", if this node is an attribute and the specified prefix is "xmlns" and the namespaceURI of this node is different from "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/", or if this node is an attribute and the qualifiedName of this node is "xmlns" [Namespaces].

core-13. 2001-05-09. [clarification]. DocumentType.internalSubset

The description

The internal subset as a string.

should read:

The internal subset as a string, or null if there is none. This is does not contain the delimiting square brackets.

core-14. 2001-07-11. [clarification]. DOMImplementation.hasFeature

The description of the version parameter

This is the version number of the feature to test. In Level 2, the string can be either "2.0" or "1.0". If the version is not specified, supporting any version of the feature causes the method to return true.

should read:

This is the version number of the feature to test. In Level 2, the string can be either "2.0" or "1.0". If the version is null or empty string, supporting any version of the feature causes the method to return true.

core-15. 2001-07-11. [clarification]. DOMException

The description

Implementations should raise other exceptions under other circumstances. For example, implementations should raise an implementation-dependent exception if a null argument is passed.

should read:

Implementations should raise other exceptions under other circumstances. For example, implementations should raise an implementation-dependent exception if a null argument is passed when null was not expected.

core-16. 2001-07-11. [clarification]. Entity

The description

This means that parsed entities declared in the external subset need not be expanded by some classes of applications, and that the replacement value of the entity may not be available. When the replacement value is available, the corresponding Entity node's child list represents the structure of that replacement text.

should read:

This means that parsed entities declared in the external subset need not be expanded by some classes of applications, and that the replacement text of the entity may not be available. When the replacement text is available, the corresponding Entity node's child list represents the structure of the replacement value.

core-17. 2001-07-11. [clarification]. createAttributeNS

The following sentence should be added:

Per [XML Namespaces], applications must use the value null as the namespaceURI parameter for methods if they wish to have no namespace.

(ditto for createElementNS, getAttributeNS, getAttributeNodeNS, hasAttributeNS, removeAttributeNS, setAttributeNS, setAttributeNodeNS, getNamedItemNS, removeNamedItemNS, setNamedItemNS)

core-18. 2001-07-11. [error]. Java bindings

The documentations in the Java source files contains errors and formatting issues. This new zip file should fix the problems.

core-19. 2001-08-31. [clarification]. Element.removeAttribute.

The following sentence is missing in the description:

If the attribute does not have a specified or default value, calling this method has no effect.

(ditto for removeAttributeNS)

core-20a. 2003-02-06. [error]. DOMImplementation.createDocument. obsolete core-3a

The description:

Creates an XML Document object of the specified type with its document element. HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method..

should read:

Creates a DOM Document object of the specified type with its document element.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised if the implementation does not support the feature "XML" and the language exposed through the Document does not support XML Namespaces (such as [HTML4]).

core-20b. 2003-02-06. [error]. DOMImplementation.createDocumentType. obsolete core-3b

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised if the implementation does not support the feature "XML" and the language exposed through the Document does not support XML Namespaces (such as [HTML4]).

core-20c. 2003-02-06. [error]. Document.createAttributeNS. obsolete core-3c

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised if the implementation does not support the feature "XML" and the language exposed through the Document does not support XML Namespaces (such as [HTML4]).

(ditto for Document.createElementNS, NamedNodeMap.setNamedItemNS, Element.setAttributeNS, Element.setAttributeNodeNS)

core-20d. 2003-02-06. [error]. Element.getAttributeNS. obsolete core-3d

The following sentence should be removed from the description:

HTML-only DOM implementations do not need to implement this method.

The following exception should be added:

DOMException.NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: May be raised if the implementation does not support the feature "XML" and the language exposed through the Document does not support XML Namespaces (such as [HTML4]).

(ditto for Element.getAttributeNodeNS, Element.hasAttributeNS, Element.removeAttributeNS, Element.getElementsByTagNameNS, NamedNodeMap.getNamedItemNS, NamedNodeMap.removeNamedItemNS,

core-21. 2002-02-14. [clarification]. Element.setAttributeNode.

The sentence should be added to the description:

Replacing an attribute node by itself has no effect.

(ditto for Element.setAttributeNodeNS)

core-22. 2002-02-14. [clarification]. NamedNodeMap.setNamedItem.

The sentence should be added to the description:

Replacing a node by itself has no effect.

(ditto for NamedNodeMap.setNamedItemNS)

core-23. 2002-02-14. [clarification]. DocumentType.systemId

The sentence should be added to the description:

This may be an absolute URI or not.

(ditto for Entity.systemId and Notation.systemId)

core-24. 2002-05-09. [clarification]. Node.nodeValue

The sentence

When it is defined to be null, setting it has no effect.

should read:

When it is defined to be null, setting it has no effect, including if the node is read-only.

core-25. 2002-05-09. [clarification]. DocumentType

The following paragraph should be added in the description:

DocumentType nodes are read-only.

core-26. 2002-05-09. [error]. XML Namespaces

The description:

Note that because the DOM does no lexical checking, the empty string will be treated as a real namespace URI in DOM Level 2 methods. Applications must use the value null as the namespaceURI parameter for methods if they wish to have no namespace.

should read:

Note that because some programming languages cannot differenciate null from an empty string, and because an empty string is not a valid namespace URI, even though the DOM does no lexical checking, the way an empty string is treated, when given as a namespace URI to a DOM Level 2 method, is implementation dependent. Applications must use the value null as the namespaceURI parameter for methods if they wish to have no namespace.

core-27. 2003-02-06. [error]. XML Namespaces. obsolete core-26.

The description:

Note that because the DOM does no lexical checking, the empty string will be treated as a real namespace URI in DOM Level 2 methods. Applications must use the value null as the namespaceURI parameter for methods if they wish to have no namespace.

should read:

Applications should use the value null as the namespaceURI parameter for methods if they wish to have no namespace. In programming languages where empty strings can be differentiated from null, the way empty strings are treated, when given as a namespace URI to a DOM Level 2 method, is implementation dependent. This is true even though the DOM does no lexical checking of URIs.

Note: setAttributeNS(null, ...) put the attribute in the per-element-type partitions.

core-28. 2002-10-16. [error]. Java bindings. obsolete core-18.

The documentations in the Java source files didn't have content for the set* methods. This new zip file should fix the problems.

DOM Level 2 Traversal and Range

range-1. 2001-01-17. [clarification]. Range.selectNode

An exception is missing:

DOMException.WRONG_DOCUMENT_ERR: Raised if refNode was created from a different document than the one that created this range.

(ditto for selectNodeContents, setStart, setStartAfter, setStartBefore, setEnd, setEndAfter, and setEndBefore)

traversal-1. 2001-03-20. [clarification]. 1.1.2. NodeFilters.

The sentence:

For example: if the filtering for the current node changes from FILTER_SHOW to FILTER_SKIP, a TreeWalker will be able to navigate off that node in any direction, but not back to it unless the filtering conditions change again.

Should read:

For example: if the filtering for the current node changes from FILTER_ACCEPT to FILTER_SKIP, a TreeWalker will be able to navigate off that node in any direction, but not back to it unless the filtering conditions change again.

traversal-2. 2001-03-20. [clarification]. NodeIterator.expandEntityReferences.

The sentence:

If false, they and their descendants will be rejected.

Should read:

If false, these children and their descendants will be rejected.

(ditto for TreeWalker.expandEntityReferences)

traversal-3. 2001-03-20. [clarification]. iterator vs Iterator vs NodeIterator.

Some instances of "iterator" and/or "Iterator" persist. Historically, these were references to the general concept of fixup-based iteration, which we thought might be reapplicable, but the WG decided to drop that level of abstraction and most other references have already been changed to NodeIterator. Changing the remaining instances improves stylistic unity.

traversal-4. 2001-08-22. [error]. createNodeIterator.

The NodeFilter to be used with this TreeWalker, or null to indicate no filter.

should read:

The NodeFilter to be used with this NodeIterator, or null to indicate no filter.

traversal-range-1. 2001-07-11. [error]. Java bindings

The documentations in the Java source files contains errors and formatting issues. This new zip file should fix the problems.

traversal-range-2. 2002-10-16. [error]. Java bindings. obsolete traversal-range-1.

The documentations in the Java source files didn't have content for the set* methods. This new zip file should fix the problems.

DOM Level 2 Views

views-1. 2001-07-11. [error]. Java bindings

The documentations in the Java source files contains errors and formatting issues. This new zip file should fix the problems.

views-2. 2002-10-16. [error]. Java bindings. obsolete views-1.

The documentations in the Java source files didn't have content for the set* methods. This new zip file should fix the problems.

DOM Level 2 Events

events-1. 2001-07-11. [error]. Java bindings

The documentations in the Java source files contains errors and formatting issues. This new zip file should fix the problems.

events-2. 2001-08-31. [error]. MutationEvent.

Some instances of "DOMCharDataModified" appear in the descriptions, they must be replaced by "DOMCharacterDataModified".

events-3. 2002-10-16. [error]. Java bindings. obsolete events-1.

The documentations in the Java source files didn't have content for the set* methods. This new zip file should fix the problems.

DOM Level 2 Style

style-1. 2001-07-11. [error]. Java bindings

The documentations in the Java source files contains errors and formatting issues. This new zip file should fix the problems.

style-2. 2001-08-31. [clarification]. CSSStyleDeclaration.getPropertyPriority.

Used to retrieve the priority of a CSS property (e.g. the "important" qualifier) if the property has been explicitly set in this declaration block.

should read:

Used to retrieve the priority of a CSS property (e.g. the "important" qualifier) if the priority has been explicitly set in this declaration block.

and

A string representing the priority (e.g. "important") if one exists. The empty string if none exists.

should read:

A string representing the priority (e.g. "important") if the property has been explicitly set in this declaration block and has a priority specified. The empty string otherwise.

style-3. 2001-08-31. [clarification]. CSSStyleDeclaration.setPriority.

The new priority of the property (e.g. "important").

should read:

The new priority of the property (e.g. "important") or the empty string if none.

style-4. 2001-08-31. [clarification]. CSSStyleDeclaration.setPriority.

The following note should be added:

Note: setProperty permits to modify a property or add a new one in the declaration block. Any call to this method may modify the order of properties in the item method.

style-6. 2002-10-16. [error]. Java bindings. obsolete style-1.

The documentations in the Java source files didn't have content for the set* methods. This new zip file should fix the problems.

DOM Level 2 HTML

html-1. 2005-01-19. [clarification]. HTMLImageElement.src.

The word: URI should read absolute URI

(ditto for HTMLImageElement.longDesc)

html-2. 2005-01-19. [error]. XHTML and the HTML DOM.

The sentences:

For instance, element and attribute names are exposed as all uppercase (for consistency) when used on an HTML document, regardless of the character case used in the markup. Since XHTML is based on XML, in XHTML everything is case sensitive, and element and attribute names must be lowercase in the markup.

should read

For instance, element names are exposed as all uppercase (for consistency) when used on an HTML document, regardless of the character case used in the markup. The names of attributes defined in HTML 4.01 are also exposed as all lowercase, regardless of the character case used in the markup, but for other attributes (i.e. ones that are not defined by HTML 4.01), the character casing is implementation dependent. Since XHTML is based on XML, in XHTML everything is case sensitive, and element and attribute names must be lowercase in the markup.

DOM Level 2: Glossary

glossary-1. 2001-01-24. [error] descendant.

The definition:

A descendant node of any node A is any node below A in a tree model of a document, where "above" means "toward the root."

should read:

A descendant node of any node A is any node below A in a tree model of a document, where "below" means "away from the root."