node-iterator-shim

NodeIterator Shim

NodeIterator is an interface originally specified by DOM Level 2. While it is a useful tool for seeking within the nodes of the DOM, it has some warts and its implementation is inconsistent across browsers.

Among the problems with NodeIterator are that it specifies arguments that really should be optional, but are required on some browsers. Several browsers expose two additional properties not in the original specification but later added to the DOM living standard, referenceNode and pointerBeforeReferenceNode.

This shim attempts to modernize NodeIterator for use in all major browsers. It does this through the following modifications:

• The filter argument is really optional, even on IE.

• The expandEntityReferences argument is discarded and the corresponding property is not made available. It was never well supported and it is deprecated.

• The referenceNode and pointerBeforeReferenceNode properties are shimmed when they aren't available.

All of this is done without changing the built-in support where it is adequate.

Installation

With a CommonJS bundler, use npm and then require('node-iterator-shim')

npm install node-iterator-shim

With a script tag, include one of node-iterator-shim.js or the minified node-iterator-shim.min.js from the dist directory.

With AMD loaders, these scripts should also work.

Usage

document.createNodeIterator(root, whatToShow, [filter])

See the documentation at the Mozilla Developer Network for more information about using NodeIterator.