WD-DOM-Level-2-19990719


3. Document Object Model StyleSheets

Editors
Vidur Apparao, Netscape Communications Corp.
Philippe Le Hégaret, W3C
Chris Wilson, Microsoft

Table of contents


3.1. Introduction

The DOM Level 2 Style Sheet interfaces are base interfaces used to represent any type of style sheet. The expectation is that DOM modules that represent a specific style sheet language may contain interfaces that derive from these interfaces.

3.2. Style Sheet Interfaces

This set of interfaces represents the generic notion of style sheets.

Interface StyleSheet

The StyleSheet interface is the abstract base interface for any type of style sheet. It represents a single style sheet associated with a structured document. In HTML, the StyleSheet interface represents either an external style sheet, included via the HTML LINK element, or an inline STYLE element. In XML, this interface represents an external style sheet, included via a style sheet processing instruction .

IDL Definition

interface StyleSheet {
  readonly attribute DOMString        type;
           attribute boolean          disabled;
  readonly attribute Node             ownerNode;
  readonly attribute StyleSheet       parentStyleSheet;
  readonly attribute DOMString        href;
  readonly attribute DOMString        title;
  readonly attribute MediaList        media;
};

Attributes
type
This specifies the style sheet language for this style sheet. The style sheet language is specified as a content type (e.g. "text/css"). The content type is often specified in the ownerNode. A list of registered content types can be found at ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/. Also see the type attribute definition for the LINK element in HTML 4.0, and the type pseudo-attribute for the XML style sheet processing instruction .
disabled
false if the style sheet is applied to the document. true if it is not. Modifying this attribute may cause a reresolution of style for the document.
ownerNode
The node that associates this style sheet with the document. For HTML, this may be the corresponding LINK or STYLE element. For XML, it may be the linking processing instruction. For style sheets that are included by other style sheets, this attribute has a value of null.
parentStyleSheet
For style sheet languages that support the concept of style sheet inclusion, this attribute represents the including style sheet, if one exists. If the style sheet is a top-level style sheet, or the style sheet language does not support inclusion, the value of the attribute is null.
href
If the style sheet is a linked style sheet, the value of its attribute is its location. For inline style sheets, the value of this attribute is null. See the href attribute definition for the LINK element in HTML 4.0, and the href pseudo-attribute for the XML style sheet processing instruction .
title
The advisory title. The title is often specified in the ownerNode. See the title attribute definition for the LINK element in HTML 4.0, and the title pseudo-attribute for the XML style sheet processing instruction .
media
The intended destination media for style information. The media is often specified in the ownerNode. See the media attribute definition for the LINK element in HTML 4.0, and the media pseudo-attribute for the XML style sheet processing instruction .
Interface StyleSheetList

The StyleSheetList interface provides the abstraction of an ordered collection of style sheets.

IDL Definition

interface StyleSheetList {
  readonly attribute unsigned long    length;
  StyleSheet         item(in unsigned long index);
};

Attributes
length
The number of StyleSheet in the list. The range of valid child stylesheet indices is 0 to length-1 inclusive.
Methods
item
Used to retrieve a style sheet by ordinal index.
Parameters
index

Index into the collection

Return Value
The style sheet at the index position in the StyleSheetList, or null if that is not a valid index.

This method raises no exceptions.
Interface MediaList

The MediaList interface provides the abstraction of an ordered collection of media, without defining or constraining how this collection is implemented. All media are lowercase strings.

IDL Definition

interface MediaList {
           attribute DOMString        cssText;
                                        // raises(DOMException) on setting

  readonly attribute unsigned long    length;
  DOMString          item(in unsigned long index);
  void               delete(in DOMString oldMedium)
                                        raises(DOMException);
  void               append(in DOMString newMedium)
                                        raises(DOMException);
};

Attributes
cssText
The parsable textual representation of the media list. This is a comma-separated list of media.
Exceptions on setting
DOMException

SYNTAX_ERR: Raised if the specified CSS string value has a syntax error and is unparsable.

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this media list is readonly.

length
The number of media in the list. The range of valid media is 0 to length-1 inclusive.
Methods
item
Returns the indexth in the list. If index is greater than or equal to the number of media in the list, this returns null.
Parameters
index

Index into the collection.

Return Value
The medium at the indexth position in the MediaList, or null if that is not a valid index.

This method raises no exceptions.
delete
Deletes the medium indicated by oldMedium from the list.
Parameters
oldMedium

The medium to delete in the media list.

Exceptions
DOMException

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this list is readonly.

NOT_FOUND_ERR: Raised if oldMedium is not in the list.


This method returns nothing.
append
Adds the medium newMedium to the end of the list. It the newMedium is already used, it is first removed.
Parameters
newMedium

The new medium to add.

Exceptions
DOMException

NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this list is readonly.


This method returns nothing.

3.3. Document Extensions

Interface DocumentStyle

The DocumentStyle interface provides a mechanism by which the style sheets embedded a document can be retrieved. The expectation is that an instance of the DocumentStyle interface can be obtained by using binding-specific casting methods on an instance of the Level 1 Document interface.

IDL Definition

interface DocumentStyle {
  readonly attribute StyleSheetList   styleSheets;
};

Attributes
styleSheets
A list containing all the style sheets explicitly linked into or embedded in a document. For HTML documents, this includes external style sheets, included via the HTML LINK element, and inline STYLE elements. In XML, this includes external style sheets, included via style sheet processing instructions.