Package net.sf.saxon.expr

Class PseudoExpression

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    ExportAgent, Locatable, IdentityComparable, Traceable
    Direct Known Subclasses:
    Pattern, SortKeyDefinition, SortKeyDefinitionList
    public abstract class PseudoExpression
extends Expression
    A pseudo-expression is an object that can appear as a node on the expression tree, but which cannot actually be evaluated in its own right. An example is a sort key definition. This has to be a node on the tree, because it contains subexpressions, so recursive traversals of the tree need to process it. But evaluating a sort key definition throws an exception.

    A constraint for pseudo-expressions is that rewrite methods (simplify, typecheck, promote etc) always return an object of the same class (nearly always the same object)

    • Constructor Detail

      • PseudoExpression

        public PseudoExpression()

    • Method Detail

      • getImplementationMethod

        public int getImplementationMethod()
        Description copied from class: Expression
        An implementation of Expression must provide at least one of the methods evaluateItem(), iterate(), or process(). This method indicates which of these methods is provided directly. The other methods will always be available indirectly, using an implementation that relies on one of the other methods.
        Specified by:
        getImplementationMethod in class Expression
        Returns:
        the implementation method, for example Expression.ITERATE_METHOD or Expression.EVALUATE_METHOD or Expression.PROCESS_METHOD

      • getItemType

        public ItemType getItemType()
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Determine the static item type of the expression, as precisely possible. All expression return sequences, in general; this method determines the type of the items within the sequence, assuming that (a) this is known in advance, and (b) it is the same for all items in the sequence.

        This method should always return a result, though it may be the best approximation that is available at the time.

        Specified by:
        getItemType in class Expression
        Returns:
        a value such as Type.STRING, Type.BOOLEAN, Type.NUMBER, Type.NODE, or Type.ITEM (meaning not known at compile time)

      • evaluateItem

        public final Item evaluateItem​(XPathContext context)
                        throws XPathException
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Evaluate an expression as a single item. This always returns either a single Item or null (denoting the empty sequence). No conversion is done. This method should not be used unless the static type of the expression is a subtype of "item" or "item?": that is, it should not be called if the expression may return a sequence. There is no guarantee that this condition will be detected.
        Overrides:
        evaluateItem in class Expression
        Parameters:
        context - The context in which the expression is to be evaluated
        Returns:
        the node or atomic value that results from evaluating the expression; or null to indicate that the result is an empty sequence
        Throws:
        XPathException - if any dynamic error occurs evaluating the expression

      • effectiveBooleanValue

        public boolean effectiveBooleanValue​(XPathContext context)
                              throws XPathException
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Get the effective boolean value of the expression. This returns false if the value is the empty sequence, a zero-length string, a number equal to zero, or the boolean false. Otherwise it returns true.
        Overrides:
        effectiveBooleanValue in class Expression
        Parameters:
        context - The context in which the expression is to be evaluated
        Returns:
        the effective boolean value
        Throws:
        XPathException - if any dynamic error occurs evaluating the expression

      • evaluateAsString

        public final UnicodeString evaluateAsString​(XPathContext context)
                                     throws XPathException
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Evaluate an expression as a String. This function must only be called in contexts where it is known that the expression will return a single string (or where an empty sequence is to be treated as a zero-length string). Implementations should not attempt to convert the result to a string, other than converting () to "". This method is used mainly to evaluate expressions produced by compiling an attribute value template.
        Overrides:
        evaluateAsString in class Expression
        Parameters:
        context - The context in which the expression is to be evaluated
        Returns:
        the value of the expression, evaluated in the current context. The expression must return a string or (); if the value of the expression is (), this method returns "".
        Throws:
        XPathException - if any dynamic error occurs evaluating the expression

      • iterate

        public final SequenceIterator iterate​(XPathContext context)
                               throws XPathException
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Return an Iterator to iterate over the values of a sequence. The value of every expression can be regarded as a sequence, so this method is supported for all expressions. This default implementation handles iteration for expressions that return singleton values: for non-singleton expressions, the subclass must provide its own implementation.
        Overrides:
        iterate in class Expression
        Parameters:
        context - supplies the context for evaluation
        Returns:
        a SequenceIterator that can be used to iterate over the result of the expression
        Throws:
        XPathException - if any dynamic error occurs evaluating the expression

      • process

        public void process​(Outputter output,
                    XPathContext context)
             throws XPathException
        Description copied from class: Expression
        Process the instruction, without returning any tail calls
        Overrides:
        process in class Expression
        Parameters:
        output - the destination for the result
        context - The dynamic context, giving access to the current node, the current variables, etc.
        Throws:
        XPathException - if a dynamic error occurs