## net.sf.saxon.expr
Interface Expression

All Known Implementing Classes:
  ComputedExpression, Value

public interface Expression

Interface supported by an XPath expression. This includes both compile-time and run-time methods.

Field Summary
`static int` `EVALUATE_METHOD`
`static int` `ITERATE_METHOD`
`static int` `PROCESS_METHOD`

Method Summary
`Expression` `analyze(StaticContext env, ItemType contextItemType)` Perform static analysis and optimisation of an expression and its subexpressions.
`void` `display(int level, NamePool pool, java.io.PrintStream out)` Diagnostic print of expression structure.
`boolean` `effectiveBooleanValue(XPathContext context)` Get the effective boolean value of the expression.
`java.lang.String` `evaluateAsString(XPathContext context)` Evaluate an expression as a String.
`Item` `evaluateItem(XPathContext context)` Evaluate an expression as a single item.
`int` `getCardinality()` Determine the static cardinality of the expression.
`int` `getDependencies()` Determine which aspects of the context the expression depends on.
`int` `getImplementationMethod()` An implementation of Expression must provide at least one of the methods evaluateItem(), iterate(), or process().
`ItemType` `getItemType()` Determine the data type of the expression, if possible.
`Container` `getParentExpression()` Get the container that immediately contains this expression.
`int` `getSpecialProperties()` Get the static properties of this expression (other than its type).
`SequenceIterator` `iterate(XPathContext context)` Return an Iterator to iterate over the values of a sequence.
`java.util.Iterator` `iterateSubExpressions()` Get the immediate sub-expressions of this expression.
`void` `process(XPathContext context)` Process the instruction, without returning any tail calls
`Expression` `promote(PromotionOffer offer)` Offer promotion for this subexpression.
`Expression` `simplify(StaticContext env)` Simplify an expression.

Field Detail

### EVALUATE_METHOD

    public static final int EVALUATE_METHOD

See Also:
  Constant Field Values

### ITERATE_METHOD

    public static final int ITERATE_METHOD

See Also:
  Constant Field Values

### PROCESS_METHOD

    public static final int PROCESS_METHOD

See Also:
  Constant Field Values

Method Detail

### getImplementationMethod

    public int getImplementationMethod()

  An implementation of Expression must provide at least one of the methods evaluateItem(), iterate(), or process(). This method indicates which of these methods is prefered.

### simplify

    public Expression simplify(StaticContext env)
                        throws XPathException

  Simplify an expression. This performs any static optimization (by rewriting the expression as a different expression). The default implementation does nothing.

  Returns:
    the simplified expression
  Throws:
    `StaticError` - if an error is discovered during expression rewriting
    `XPathException`

### analyze

    public Expression analyze(StaticContext env,
                              ItemType contextItemType)
                       throws XPathException

  Perform static analysis and optimisation of an expression and its subexpressions.

  This checks statically that the operands of the expression have the correct type; if necessary it generates code to do run-time type checking or type conversion. A static type error is reported only if execution cannot possibly succeed, that is, if a run-time type error is inevitable. The call may return a modified form of the expression.

  This method is called after all references to functions and variables have been resolved to the declaration of the function or variable. However, the types of such functions and variables may not be accurately known if they have not been explicitly declared.

  Parameters:
    `env` - the static context of the expression
    `contextItemType` - the static type of "." at the point where this expression is invoked. The parameter is set to null if it is known statically that the context item will be undefined. If the type of the context item is not known statically, the argument is set to `Type.ITEM_TYPE`
  Returns:
    the original expression, rewritten to perform necessary run-time type checks, and to perform other type-related optimizations
  Throws:
    `StaticError` - if an error is discovered during this phase (typically a type error)
    `XPathException`

### promote

    public Expression promote(PromotionOffer offer)
                       throws XPathException

  Offer promotion for this subexpression. The offer will be accepted if the subexpression is not dependent on the factors (e.g. the context item) identified in the PromotionOffer. By default the offer is not accepted - this is appropriate in the case of simple expressions such as constant values and variable references where promotion would give no performance advantage. This method is always called at compile time.

  Parameters:
    `offer` - details of the offer, for example the offer to move expressions that don't depend on the context to an outer level in the containing expression
  Returns:
    if the offer is not accepted, return this expression unchanged. Otherwise return the result of rewriting the expression to promote this subexpression
  Throws:
    `XPathException` - if any error is detected

### getSpecialProperties

    public int getSpecialProperties()

  Get the static properties of this expression (other than its type). The result is bit-signficant. These properties are used for optimizations. In general, if property bit is set, it is true, but if it is unset, the value is unknown.

  Returns:
    a set of flags indicating static properties of this expression

### getCardinality

    public int getCardinality()

  Determine the static cardinality of the expression. This establishes how many items there will be in the result of the expression, at compile time (i.e., without actually evaluating the result.

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

  Returns:
    one of the values Cardinality.ONE_OR_MORE, Cardinality.ZERO_OR_MORE, Cardinality.EXACTLY_ONE, Cardinality.ZERO_OR_ONE, Cardinality.EMPTY. This default implementation returns ZERO_OR_MORE (which effectively gives no information).

### getItemType

    public ItemType getItemType()

  Determine the data type of the expression, if 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.

  Returns:
    a value such as Type.STRING, Type.BOOLEAN, Type.NUMBER, Type.NODE, or Type.ITEM (meaning not known at compile time)

### getDependencies

    public int getDependencies()

  Determine which aspects of the context the expression depends on. The result is a bitwise-or'ed value composed from constants such as `StaticProperty.DEPENDS_ON_CONTEXT_ITEM` and `StaticProperty.DEPENDS_ON_CURRENT_ITEM`. The default implementation combines the intrinsic dependencies of this expression with the dependencies of the subexpressions, computed recursively. This is overridden for expressions such as FilterExpression where a subexpression's dependencies are not necessarily inherited by the parent expression.

  Returns:
    a set of bit-significant flags identifying the dependencies of the expression

### iterateSubExpressions

    public java.util.Iterator iterateSubExpressions()

  Get the immediate sub-expressions of this expression. Default implementation returns a zero-length array, appropriate for an expression that has no sub-expressions.

  Returns:
    an iterator containing the sub-expressions of this expression

### getParentExpression

    public Container getParentExpression()

  Get the container that immediately contains this expression. This method returns null for an outermost expression; it also return null in the case of literal values. For an XPath expression occurring within an XSLT stylesheet, this method returns the XSLT instruction containing the XPath expression.

  Returns:
    the expression that contains this expression, if known; return null if there is no containing expression or if the containing expression is unknown.

### evaluateItem

    public Item evaluateItem(XPathContext context)
                      throws XPathException

  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.

  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

### iterate

    public SequenceIterator iterate(XPathContext context)
                             throws XPathException

  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.

  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

### effectiveBooleanValue

    public boolean effectiveBooleanValue(XPathContext context)
                                  throws XPathException

  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.

  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 java.lang.String evaluateAsString(XPathContext context)
                                      throws XPathException

  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.

  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
    `java.lang.ClassCastException` - if the result type of the expression is not xs:string?

### process

    public void process(XPathContext context)
                 throws XPathException

  Process the instruction, without returning any tail calls

  Parameters:
    `context` - The dynamic context, giving access to the current node, the current variables, etc.
    `XPathException`

### display

    public void display(int level,
                        NamePool pool,
                        java.io.PrintStream out)

  Diagnostic print of expression structure. The expression is written to the System.err output stream

  Parameters:
    `level` - indentation level for this expression
    `pool` - NamePool used to expand any names appearing in the expression
    `out` - Output destination