Method: REXML::Element#initialize

Defined in:
lib/rexml/element.rb

#initialize(arg = UNDEFINED, parent = nil, context = nil) ⇒ Element

:call-seq:

Element.new(name = 'UNDEFINED', parent = nil, context = nil) -> new_element
Element.new(element, parent = nil, context = nil) -> new_element

Returns a new REXML::Element object.

When no arguments are given, returns an element with name 'UNDEFINED':

e = REXML::Element.new # => <UNDEFINED/>
e.class                # => REXML::Element
e.name                 # => "UNDEFINED"

When only argument name is given, returns an element of the given name:

REXML::Element.new('foo') # => <foo/>

When only argument element is given, it must be an REXML::Element object; returns a shallow copy of the given element:

e0 = REXML::Element.new('foo')
e1 = REXML::Element.new(e0) # => <foo/>

When argument parent is also given, it must be an REXML::Parent object:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo', REXML::Parent.new)
e.parent # => #<REXML::Parent @parent=nil, @children=[<foo/>]>

When argument context is also given, it must be a hash representing the context for the element; see Element Context:

e = REXML::Element.new('foo', nil, {raw: :all})
e.context # => {:raw=>:all}



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# File 'lib/rexml/element.rb', line 319

def initialize( arg = UNDEFINED, parent=nil, context=nil )
  super(parent)

  @elements = Elements.new(self)
  @attributes = Attributes.new(self)
  @context = context

  if arg.kind_of? String
    self.name = arg
  elsif arg.kind_of? Element
    self.name = arg.expanded_name
    arg.attributes.each_attribute{ |attribute|
      @attributes << Attribute.new( attribute )
    }
    @context = arg.context
  end
end