xmlDoc

xmlDoc is a term used in programming to denote an in-memory representation of an XML document, typically the root of a document object model (DOM) used for XML processing. In practice, xmlDoc refers to an object that provides access to the entire XML tree and its nodes.

Creation and parsing: An xmlDoc is produced by parsing XML text or a file with a parser. The result is a tree of nodes with a single root element that contains child elements, text nodes, attributes, comments, and namespaces.

Structure and nodes: The core concepts include elements, attributes, text nodes, and possibly processing instructions. Namespaces qualify element and attribute names to avoid collisions in mixed XML content. The document also contains declarations such as the XML declaration.

Manipulation: Through the API of the hosting language, scripts may traverse the tree, add or remove nodes, or modify attributes. Changes typically affect the in-memory xmlDoc and can be persisted by serializing the document back to XML.

Validation and querying: XML validation against a schema or DTD ensures conformance. XPath and XQuery provide mechanisms to query or extract data from an xmlDoc.

Serialization and usage: After modifications, an xmlDoc can be serialized to a string or file, enabling storage, transmission, or transformation with XSLT. XmlDoc type names vary by language; some use Document, DOMDocument, or XmlDocument.

Security and performance: Parsing may be streaming or tree-based. Care should be taken to prevent XXE attacks by disabling external entity resolution where not needed.