=head1 NAME

XML::DOM::CharacterData - Common interface for Text, CDATASections and Comments

=head1 DESCRIPTION

XML::DOM::CharacterData extends L<XML::DOM::Node>

The CharacterData interface extends Node with a set of attributes and

methods for accessing character data in the DOM. For clarity this set

is defined here rather than on each object that uses these attributes

and methods. No DOM objects correspond directly to CharacterData,

though Text, Comment and CDATASection do inherit the interface from it. 

All offsets in this interface start from 0.

=head2 METHODS

=over 4

=item getData and setData (data)

The character data of the node that implements this

interface. The DOM implementation may not put arbitrary

limits on the amount of data that may be stored in a

CharacterData node. However, implementation limits may mean

that the entirety of a node's data may not fit into a single

DOMString. In such cases, the user may call substringData to

retrieve the data in appropriately sized pieces.

=item getLength

The number of characters that are available through data and

the substringData method below. This may have the value zero,

i.e., CharacterData nodes may be empty.

=item substringData (offset, count)

Extracts a range of data from the node.

Parameters:

 I<offset>  Start offset of substring to extract.

 I<count>   The number of characters to extract.

Return Value: The specified substring. If the sum of offset and count

exceeds the length, then all characters to the end of

the data are returned.

=item appendData (str)

Appends the string to the end of the character data of the

node. Upon success, data provides access to the concatenation

of data and the DOMString specified.

=item insertData (offset, arg)

Inserts a string at the specified character offset.

Parameters:

 I<offset>  The character offset at which to insert.

 I<arg>     The DOMString to insert.

=item deleteData (offset, count)

Removes a range of characters from the node. 

Upon success, data and length reflect the change.

If the sum of offset and count exceeds length then all characters 

from offset to the end of the data are deleted.

Parameters: 

 I<offset>  The offset from which to remove characters. 

 I<count>   The number of characters to delete. 

=item replaceData (offset, count, arg)

Replaces the characters starting at the specified character

offset with the specified string.

Parameters:

 I<offset>  The offset from which to start replacing.

 I<count>   The number of characters to replace. 

 I<arg>     The DOMString with which the range must be replaced.

If the sum of offset and count exceeds length, then all characters to the end of

the data are replaced (i.e., the effect is the same as a remove method call with 

the same range, followed by an append method invocation).

=back