Document Object Model Style Sheets

13 November, 2000

# 1. Document Object Model Style Sheets

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

## Table of contents

## 1.1. 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.

The interfaces found within this section are not mandatory. A DOM application may use the `hasFeature(feature, version)` method of the `DOMImplementation` interface with parameter values "StyleSheets" and "2.0" (respectively) to determine whether or not this module is supported by the implementation. In order to fully support this module, an implementation must also support the "Core" feature defined defined in the DOM 2 Core specification [DOM Level 2 Core]. Please refer to additional information about conformance in the DOM Level 2 Core specification [DOM Level 2 Core].

## 1.2. Style Sheet Interfaces

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

Interface StyleSheet (introduced in DOM Level 2)

  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

        // Introduced in DOM Level 2:
        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
    `disabled` of type `boolean`
      `false` if the style sheet is applied to the document. `true` if it is not. Modifying this attribute may cause a new resolution of style for the document. A stylesheet only applies if both an appropriate medium definition is present and the disabled attribute is false. So, if the media doesn't apply to the current user agent, the `disabled` attribute is ignored.
    `href` of type `DOMString`, readonly
      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.
    `media` of type `MediaList`, readonly
      The intended destination media for style information. The media is often specified in the `ownerNode`. If no media has been specified, the `MediaList` will be empty. 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 . Modifying the media list may cause a change to the attribute `disabled`.
    `ownerNode` of type `Node`, readonly
      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, the value of this attribute is `null`.
    `parentStyleSheet` of type `StyleSheet`, readonly
      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 this attribute is `null`.
    `title` of type `DOMString`, readonly
      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.
    `type` of type `DOMString`, readonly
      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`. 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.
Interface StyleSheetList (introduced in DOM Level 2)

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

  The items in the `StyleSheetList` are accessible via an integral index, starting from 0.

  IDL Definition

        // Introduced in DOM Level 2:
        interface StyleSheetList {
          readonly attribute unsigned long    length;
          StyleSheet         item(in unsigned long index);
        };

  Attributes
    `length` of type `unsigned long`, readonly
      The number of `StyleSheets` 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. If index is greater than or equal to the number of style sheets in the list, this returns `null`.
      Parameters
      `index` of type `unsigned long`
        Index into the collection
      Return Value

      `StyleSheet` | The style sheet at the `index` position in the `StyleSheetList`, or `null` if that is not a valid index.

      No Exceptions
Interface MediaList (introduced in DOM Level 2)

  The `MediaList` interface provides the abstraction of an ordered collection of media, without defining or constraining how this collection is implemented. An empty list is the same as a list that contains the medium `"all"`.

  The items in the `MediaList` are accessible via an integral index, starting from 0.

  IDL Definition

        // Introduced in DOM Level 2:
        interface MediaList {
                   attribute DOMString        mediaText;
                                                // raises(DOMException) on setting

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

  Attributes
    `length` of type `unsigned long`, readonly
      The number of media in the list. The range of valid media is `0` to `length-1` inclusive.
    `mediaText` of type `DOMString`
      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 string value has a syntax error and is unparsable. NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this media list is readonly.

  Methods
    `appendMedium`
      Adds the medium `newMedium` to the end of the list. If the `newMedium` is already used, it is first removed.
      Parameters
      `newMedium` of type `DOMString`
        The new medium to add.
      Exceptions

      `DOMException` | INVALID_CHARACTER_ERR: If the medium contains characters that are invalid in the underlying style language. NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this list is readonly.

      No Return Value
    `deleteMedium`
      Deletes the medium indicated by `oldMedium` from the list.
      Parameters
      `oldMedium` of type `DOMString`
        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.

      No Return Value
    `item`
      Returns the `index`th in the list. If `index` is greater than or equal to the number of media in the list, this returns `null`.
      Parameters
      `index` of type `unsigned long`
        Index into the collection.
      Return Value

      `DOMString` | The medium at the `index`th position in the `MediaList`, or `null` if that is not a valid index.

      No Exceptions

## 1.3. Document Extensions

Interface LinkStyle (introduced in DOM Level 2)

  The `LinkStyle` interface provides a mechanism by which a style sheet can be retrieved from the node responsible for linking it into a document. An instance of the `LinkStyle` interface can be obtained using binding-specific casting methods on an instance of a linking node (`HTMLLinkElement`, `HTMLStyleElement` or `ProcessingInstruction` in DOM Level 2).

  IDL Definition

        // Introduced in DOM Level 2:
        interface LinkStyle {
          readonly attribute StyleSheet       sheet;
        };

  Attributes
    `sheet` of type `StyleSheet`, readonly
      The style sheet.
Interface DocumentStyle (introduced in DOM Level 2)

  The `DocumentStyle` interface provides a mechanism by which the style sheets embedded in 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 `Document` interface.

  IDL Definition

        // Introduced in DOM Level 2:
        interface DocumentStyle {
          readonly attribute StyleSheetList   styleSheets;
        };

  Attributes
    `styleSheets` of type `StyleSheetList`, readonly
      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 (see [XML-StyleSheet]).

## 1.4. Association between a style sheet and a document.

HTML and Style Sheet Creation
  A style sheet can be associated with an HTMLDocument in one of two ways:
  - By creating a new LINK HTML element (see the `HTMLLinkElement` interface in the [DOM Level 2 HTML] and [HTML4.0]). The underlying style sheet will be created after the element is inserted into the document and both the href and the type attribute have been set in a way indicating that the linked object is a style sheet.
  - By creating a new STYLE HTML element (see the `HTMLStyleElement` interface in the [DOM Level 2 HTML] and [HTML4.0]). The underlying style sheet will be created after the element is inserted into the document and the type attribute is set in a way indicating that the element corresponds to a style sheet language interpreted by the user agent.
HTML and Style Sheet Removal
  Removing a LINK HTML element or a STYLE HTML element removes the underlying style sheet from the style sheet collection associated with a document. Specifically, the removed style sheet is no longer applied to the presentation of the document.
XML and Style Sheet Creation
  A new style sheet can be created and associated with an XML document by creating a processing instruction with the target 'xml-stylesheet' [XML-StyleSheet] and inserting it into the document.
XML and Style Sheet Removal
  Removing a processing instruction with a target of 'xml-stylesheet' [XML-StyleSheet] removes the underlying style sheet from the style sheet collection associated with a document. Specifically, the removed style sheet is no longer applied to the presentation of the document.