javax.xml.transform.sax (Java Platform SE 8 )
Keywords: javax.xml.transform.sax package
Date: 2026-04-22

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# Package javax.xml.transform.sax

This package implements SAX2-specific transformation APIs.

See: Description

- Interface Summary
  Interface | Description
  --- | ---
  TemplatesHandler | A SAX ContentHandler that may be used to process SAX parse events (parsing transformation instructions) into a Templates object.
  TransformerHandler | A TransformerHandler listens for SAX ContentHandler parse events and transforms them to a Result.

- Class Summary
  Class | Description
  --- | ---
  SAXResult | Acts as an holder for a transformation Result.
  SAXSource | Acts as an holder for SAX-style Source.
  SAXTransformerFactory | This class extends TransformerFactory to provide SAX-specific factory methods.

## Package javax.xml.transform.sax Description

This package implements SAX2-specific transformation APIs. It provides classes which allow input from `ContentHandler` events, and also classes that produce org.xml.sax.ContentHandler events. It also provides methods to set the input source as an `XMLReader`, or to use a `InputSource` as the source. It also allows the creation of a `XMLFilter`, which enables transformations to "pull" from other transformations, and lets the transformer to be used polymorphically as an `XMLReader`.

The `SAXSource` class allows the setting of an `XMLReader` to be used for "pulling" parse events, and an `InputSource` that may be used to specify the SAX source.

The `SAXResult` class allows the setting of a `ContentHandler` to be the receiver of SAX2 events from the transformation.

The `SAXTransformerFactory` extends `TransformerFactory` to provide factory methods for creating `TemplatesHandler`, `TransformerHandler`, and `XMLReader` instances.

To obtain a `SAXTransformerFactory`, the caller must cast the `TransformerFactory` instance returned from `TransformerFactory.newInstance()`.

The `TransformerHandler` interface allows a transformation to be created from SAX2 parse events, which is a "push" model rather than the "pull" model that normally occurs for a transformation. Normal parse events are received through the `ContentHandler` interface, lexical events such as startCDATA and endCDATA are received through the `LexicalHandler` interface, and events that signal the start or end of disabling output escaping are received via `ContentHandler.processingInstruction(java.lang.String, java.lang.String)`, with the target parameter being `Result.PI_DISABLE_OUTPUT_ESCAPING` and `Result.PI_ENABLE_OUTPUT_ESCAPING`. If parameters, output properties, or other features need to be set on the Transformer handler, a `Transformer` reference will need to be obtained from `TransformerHandler.getTransformer()`, and the methods invoked from that reference.

The `TemplatesHandler` interface allows the creation of `Templates` objects from SAX2 parse events. Once the `ContentHandler` events are complete, the Templates object may be obtained from `TemplatesHandler.getTemplates()`. Note that `TemplatesHandler.setSystemId(java.lang.String)` should normally be called in order to establish a base system ID from which relative URLs may be resolved.

The `SAXTransformerFactory.newXMLFilter(javax.xml.transform.Source)` method allows the creation of a `XMLFilter`, which encapsulates the SAX2 notion of a "pull" transformation. The following illustrates several transformations chained together. Each filter points to a parent `XMLReader`, and the final transformation is caused by invoking `XMLReader.parse(org.xml.sax.InputSource)` on the final reader in the chain.

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