- From: John Cowan <cowan@locke.ccil.org>
- Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 15:05:50 -0400
- To: DOM List <www-dom@w3.org>
Stephen R. Savitzky wrote:
> It is reasonable to expect that cloneNode will copy _everything_ that it is
> meaningful to copy
I have no such expectations.
> (and it is certainly possible to ensure this for any
> particular implementation).
Indeed.
> One could even write this requirement into the
> specification.
"*One* can't, perhaps, but *two* can."
-- Humpty Dumpty
But at any rate, four (the authors of the DOM Core PR) did not.
The PR says only:
# Returns a duplicate of the node, i.e., serves as a generic copy
# constructor for Nodes. The duplicate node has
# no parent (parentNode returns null.).
#
# Cloning an Element copies all attributes and their values,
# including those generated by the XML processor to
# represent defaulted attributes, but this method does not
# copy any text it contains unless it is a deep clone, since
# the text is contained in a child Text node. Cloning any
# other type of node simply returns a copy of this node.
> On the other hand, it is clearly impossible to do this with the createXXX
> methods -- that's why cloneNode exists in the first place.
I believe cloneNode to be a convenience method. Everything it does
can be done with:
switch (this.nodeType) {
case ELEMENT_NODE: new = this.ownerDocument.createElement(...)
new.setAttributes(this.getAttributes)
break
case TEXT_NODE: new = this.ownerDocument.createText(...)
etc. etc.
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org
You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn.
You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn.
Clear all so! 'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)
Received on Wednesday, 9 September 1998 15:07:36 UTC