=head1 NAME

XML::LibXML::Text - XML::LibXML Class for Text Nodes

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  $text = XML::LibXML::Text->new( $content ); 
  $nodedata = $text->data;
  $text->setData( $text_content );
  $text->substringData($offset, $length);
  $text->appendData( $somedata );
  $text->insertData($offset, $string);
  $text->deleteData($offset, $length);
  $text->deleteDataString($remstring, $all);
  $text->replaceData($offset, $length, $string);
  $text->replaceDataString($old, $new, $flag);
  $text->replaceDataRegEx( $search_cond, $replace_cond, $reflags );


=head1 DESCRIPTION

Different to the DOM specification XML::LibXML implements the text node as the
base class of all character data node. Therefor there exists no CharacterData
class. This allow one to use all methods that are available for textnodes as
well for Comments or CDATA-sections.

=over 4

=item B<new>

  $text = XML::LibXML::Text->new( $content ); 

The constuctor of the class. It creates an unbound text node.



=back

=over 4

=item B<data>

  $nodedata = $text->data;

Although there exists the nodeValue attribute in the Node class, the DOM
specification defines data as a separate attribute. XML::LibXML implements
these two attributes not as different attributes, but as aliases, such as
libxml2 does. Therefore

   $text->data;

and

   $text->nodeValue;

will have the same result and are not different entities.



=back

=over 4

=item B<setData($string)>

  $text->setData( $text_content );

This function sets or replaces text content to a node. The node has to be of
the type "text", "cdata" or "comment".



=back

=over 4

=item B<substringData($offset,$length)>

  $text->substringData($offset, $length);

Extracts a range of data from the node. (DOM Spec) This function takes the two
parameters $offset and $length and returns the substring if available.

If the node contains no data or $offset referes to an nonexisting string index,
this function will return undef. If $length is out of range substringData will
return the data starting at $offset instead of causing an error.



=back

=over 4

=item B<appendData($string)>

  $text->appendData( $somedata );

Appends a string to the end of the existing data. If the current text node
contains no data, this function has the same effect as setData.



=back

=over 4

=item B<insertData($offset,$string)>

  $text->insertData($offset, $string);

Inserts the parameter $string at the given $offset of the existing data of the
node. This operation will not remove existing data, but change the order of the
existing data.

The $offset has to be a positive value. If $offset is out of range, insertData
will have the same behaviour as appendData.



=back

=over 4

=item B<deleteData($offset, $length)>

  $text->deleteData($offset, $length);

This method removes a chunk from the existing node data at the given offset.
The $length parameter tells, how many characters should be removed from the
string.



=back

=over 4

=item B<deleteDataString($string, [$all])>

  $text->deleteDataString($remstring, $all);

This method removes a chunk from the existing node data. Since the DOM spec is
quite unhandy if you already know which string to remove from a text node, this
method allows more perlish code :)

The functions takes two parameters: $string and optional the $all flag. If $all
is not set, undef or 0, deleteDataString will remove only the first occourance
of $string. If $all is TRUE deleteDataString will remove all occourences of
$string from the node data.



=back

=over 4

=item B<replaceData($offset, $length, $string)>

  $text->replaceData($offset, $length, $string);

The DOM style version to replace node data.



=back

=over 4

=item B<replaceDataString($oldstring, $newstring, [$all])>

  $text->replaceDataString($old, $new, $flag);

The more programmer friendly version of replaceData() :)

Instead of giving offsets and length one can specify the exact string
($oldstring) to be replaced. Additionally the $all flag allows to replace all
occourences of $oldstring.



=back

=over 4

=item B<replaceDataRegEx( $search_cond, $replace_cond, $reflags )>

  $text->replaceDataRegEx( $search_cond, $replace_cond, $reflags );

This method replaces the node's data by a simple regular expression. Optional,
this function allows to pass some flags that will be added as flag to the
replace statement.

NOTE: This is a shortcut for

   my $datastr = $node->getData();
   $datastr =~ s/somecond/replacement/g; # 'g' is just an example for any flag
   $node->setData( $datastr );

This function can make things easier to read for simple replacements. For more
complex variants it is recommented to use the code snippet above.



=back

=head1 AUTHORS

Matt Sergeant, 
Christian Glahn, 
=head1 VERSION

1.56

=head1 COPYRIGHT

2001-2002, AxKit.com Ltd; 2001-2003 Christian Glahn, All rights reserved.

=cut
