09 January 2003

Appendix A: Changes

Editor:
Philippe Le Hégaret, W3C

A.1: Changes between DOM Level 1 and DOM Level 2

Note: The DOM Level 2 HTML module is not backward compatible with the DOM Level 1 HTML module.

OMG IDL
The DOM Level 2 specifications use CORBA 2.3.1 instead of CORBA 2.2.
XHTML 1.0 support
The DOM Level 2 HTML module supports HTML 4 as well as XHTML 1.0 documents. Therefore, case sensitivity in methods depends on Document support for the feature "XML" as well as "HTML".

A.1.1: Changes to DOM Level 1 interfaces and exceptions

Interface HTMLDocument
the method getElementById is now inherited from the Document interface [DOM Level 2 Core] where it was moved.
Interface HTMLSelectElement
The type of the attribute options was changed from HTMLCollection to HTMLOptionsCollection.
The attribute length is no longer readonly and is now unsigned.
Interface HTMLOptionElement
Changing the defaultSelected attribute does not reset the state of the form control.
index is readonly.
Interface HTMLInputElement
the attribute type is no longer read only.
The type of the attribute size was changed from DOMString to unsigned long.
Interface HTMLTextAreaElement
Changing the defaultValue attribute does not reset the contents of the form control.
Interface HTMLBlockquoteElement
this interface has been removed. BLOCKQUOTE elements are now supported by the HTMLQuoteElement interface.
Interface HTMLBaseFontElement
The attribute size is of type long.
Interface HTMLImageElement
The lowSrc attribute was removed.
The types of the attributes height, hspace, width and vspace were changed from DOMString to long.
Interface HTMLObjectElement
The attribute contentDocument was added.
Interface HTMLAppletElement
The types of the attributes hspace and vspace were changed from DOMString to long.
The attribute object returns the value of the HTML object attribute.
Interface HTMLTableElement
caption, tHead, tFoot, insertRow, and deleteRow may raise exceptions.
index uses a logical order, and not a document order.
Interface HTMLTableSectionElement
The methods insertRow and deleteRow may raise exceptions.
Interface HTMLTableRowElement
The attributes rowIndex, sectionRowIndex, and cells are readonly.
The methods insertCell and deleteCell may raise exceptions.
rowIndex uses a logical order, and not a document order.
Interface HTMLFrameElement
the attribute contentDocument was added.
Interface HTMLIFrameElement
the attribute contentDocument was added.
Module and package name
The module name used in the OMG IDL is now html2.
The package name used in the Java bindings is now org.w3c.dom.html2.

A.1.2: New Interfaces

Interface HTMLOptionsCollection
The HTMLOptionsCollection interface was added to the HTML module.