http://www.xulplanet.com/reference/elemref/ref_XULElement.html
A XUL element. The following lists attribute and properties common to all XUL elements. Some only have any meaning in particular situations such as when placed inside a template or overlay.
nsIDOMElement
nsIDOMEventTarget
nsIDOMNode
nsIDOMXULElement
The align attribute specifies how child elements of the box are aligned, when the size of the box is larger than the total size of the children. For boxes that have horizontal orientation, it specifies how its children will be aligned vertically. For boxes that have vertical orientation, it is used to specify how its children are algined horizontally. The pack attribute is related to the alignment but is used to specify the position in the opposite direction. You can also specify the value of align using the style property '-moz-box-align'.
Child elements are aligned starting from the left or top edge of the box. If
the box is larger than the total size of the children, the extra space is
placed on the right or bottom side.
Extra space is split equally along each side of the child elements, resulting
the children being placed in the center of the box.
Child elements are placed on the right or bottom edge of the box. If the box
is larger than the total size of the children, the extra space is placed on
the left or top side.
This value applies to horizontally oriented boxes only. It causes the child
elements to be aligned so that their text labels are lined up.
The child elements are stretched to fit the size of the box. For a horizontal
box, the children are stretched to be the height of the box. For a vertical
box, the children are stretched to be the width of the box. If the size of the
box changes, the children stretch to fit. Use the flex attribute to create
elements that stretch in the opposite direction.
(Deprecated) The elements are aligned on their left edges.
(Deprecated) The elements are centered horizontally.
(Deprecated) The elements are aligned on their right edges.
If true, events are passed to children of the element. Otherwise, events are passed to the element only.
Valid on any element that has a datasources attribute. When multiple datasources are used, one may override an assertion from another. This attribute, if true, which is the default, allows a datasource to negate an earlier assertion.
The style class of the element. Multiple classes may be specified by separating them with spaces.
Valid on any element that has a datasources attribute. Because RDF holds a graph of resources, it is possible for there to be several pointers to the same node. If this attribute is true, which is the default, duplicate references are skipped. If false, duplicate references will appear.
If true, then the element is collapsed and does not appear. It is equivalent to setting the CSS visibility property to 'collapse'.
Set to true if the element is to act as a container which can have child elements. This would be used for folders. This will be set by the template builder as needed.
This attribute specifies RDF properties that indicate that a resource is a container. When generating content from a template this is used to determine which resources from the datasource are containers and thus can have child nodes and which ones are not containers. This attribute should be placed on the same element that the datasources and the ref attribute is on. It may be set to a space-separated list of RDF properties or resources.
Should be set to the value of the id of the popup element that should appear when the user context-clicks on the element. A context-click varies on each platform. Usually it will be a right click. You can use the special value '_child' to indicate the first menupopup child of the element.
Alternate name for the context attribute, but also has a corresponding script property 'contextmenu'.
A space-separated list of datasources that an element's template will use for content generation. These can be either internal datasources such as rdf:bookmarks or a URL of an RDF file. The datasources attribute may be placed on most elements, although it will usually be found on trees and menupopups. The element should have a template element as a child. The specified datasources are combined into a single composite datasource which holds the data from all of the datasources. This composite datasource is accesssible via a script through the database property. If you plan on adding a datasource to an element but don't want one to be added right away, set this attribute to 'rdf:null'. This will make the element so that its contents can be generated from a datasource. Otherwise, you cannot add one later.
The direction in which the child elements of the element are placed.
The elements are placed left to right or top to bottom in the order they
appear in the XUL code.
The elements are placed right to left or bottom to top. This is reverse of
the order in which they appear in the XUL code.
Set to true if the element is a container that contains no children. This will be set by the template builder as needed.
This attribute can be used to make the children of the element equal in size.
For a horizontally oriented element, this will make all of its children have
the width of the widest child. For a vertically oriented element, this will
make its children all have the height of the tallest child.
All of the children are displayed at the size required by the content or as
specified by the width and height attributes or the CSS width and height
properties.
A set of flags used for miscellaneous purposes. Two flags are defined, which may be the value of this attribute.
For template generated content, the builder will not check that a container
is empty.
This flag may be used on a tree to indicate that content elements should not
be generated. This results in a performace enhancement, but you will not be
able to use the DOM functions to retreive the tree rows.
Indicates the flexibility of the element, which indicates how an element's container distributes remaining empty space among its children. Flexible elements grow and shrink to fit their given space. Elements with larger flex values will be made larger than elements with lower flex values, at the ratio determined by the two elements. The actual value is not relevant unless there are other flexible elements within the same container. Once the default sizes of elements in a box are calculated, the remaining space in the box is divided among the flexible elements, according to their flex ratios.
The height of the element in pixels. It is recommended that the CSS height property be used instead.
If set to true, the element is not displayed. This is similar to setting the CSS display property to 'none'.
A unique identifier so that you can identify the element with. You can use this as a parameter to getElementById and other DOM functions and to reference the element in style sheets.
When an element is in an overlay, the insertafter attribute specifies the id of the element in the base window that the element should appear after. This attribute overrides the insertbefore attribute. This value may be a comma-separated list of ids, which are scanned and the first one found in the window is used.
When an element is in an overlay, the insertbefore attribute specifies the id of the element in the base window that the element should appear before. This value may be a comma-separated list of ids, which are scanned and the first one found in the window is used.
For elements placed within a stack, specifies the position of the left edge of the element.
The maximum height of the element. This corresponds to the max-height CSS property.
The maximum width of the element. This corresponds to the max-width CSS property.
Alternate name for the popup attribute, but also has a corresponding script property 'menu'.
The minimum height of the element. This corresponds to the min-height CSS property.
The minimum width of the element. This corresponds to the min-width CSS property.
Determines whether mouse events are passed through each element of the element until one responds to it. If this attribute is not specified, the value is inherited from the parent of the element.
Mouse events are passed to each element in the element starting from the
top until one responds to it by returning true from its event handler.
Mouse events are only passed to the top element in the element
Set to an id of a broadcaster element that is being observed by the element. If an attribute changes in the broadcaster it is also changed in the observer.
An integer which specifies the position of the element within its parent. By default, elements appear in the order they appear in the XUL code. The ordinal attribute can be used to change the order. Note the default ordinal for elements is 1. You can retrieve the displayed order by using the properties of the boxObject of the container.
Used to specify whether the children of the element are oriented horizontally or vertically. The default value depends on the element. You can also use the '-moz-box-orient' style property.
Child elements of the element are placed next to each other in a row in the order
that they appear in the XUL source.
Child elements of the element are placed under each other in a column in the
order that they appear in the XUL source.
The pack attribute specifies where child elements of the box are placed when the box is larger that the size of the children. For boxes with horizontal orientation, it is used to indicate the position of children horizontally. For boxes with vertical orientation, it is used to indicate the position of children vertically. The align attribute is used to specify the position in the opposite direction. You can also specify the value of pack using the style property '-moz-box-pack'.
Child elements are placed starting from the left or top edge of the box. If
the box is larger than the total size of the children, the extra space is
placed on the right or bottom side.
Extra space is split equally along each side of the child elements, resulting
the children being placed in the center of the box.
Child elements are placed on the right or bottom edge of the box. If the box
is larger than the total size of the children, the extra space is placed on
the left or top side.
A space separated list of attributes that are maintained when the window is closed. When the window is re-opened, the values of persistent attributes are restored. In Mozilla, persistent attributes are stored in the per-profile file localstore.rdf. Persistence can also be stored using the document.persist function. In order for persistence to work, the element must also have an id.
Should be set to the value of the id of the popup element that should appear when the user clicks on the element.
When an element is in an overlay, the position is an index where the child is inserted. The position is one-based, so use a value of 1 to place the element at the beginning. This attribute is ignored if either an insertbefore or insertafter attribute matches an element.
If true, the element may be used as one that modifies a preference in a prefwindow. The preference attribute may be used to connect to a preference element. This is useful for custom elements implemented in XBL. The element should fire change or select events when the value is changed so that the preference will update accordingly.
For template generated elements, this attribute is used to specify the root RDF node where content generation begins. This will correspond to the value of an about attribute on an RDF container. This attribute should be placed alongside the datasources attribute.
When placed on an element in an overlay, it indicates that the element in the base file should be removed from the window.
Set this attribute to set the direction that template-generated content is sorted. Use the sortResource attribute to specify the sort key.
The data is sorted in ascending order.
The data is sorted in descending order.
The data is sorted in natural order, which means the order that it is stored in.
For template-generated content, this specifies the sort key, if you would like the content to be sorted. The key should be the full URI of the resource to sort by, for example 'http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#Name'. Place this attribute on the same element as the datasources attribute. Use sortResource2 to specify a secondary sort key.
A secondary key for sorted content.
Used to set the text that appears on the status bar when the user moves the mouse over the element. Mozilla doesn't adjust the status bar automatically however. This attribute serves only as a place to keep the text. In Firefox, this text is automatically placed in the statusbar for menuitems on the menu bar.
CSS style rules to be applied to the element. Syntax is as in the HTML style attribute. It is preferred to put style rules in style sheets.
For template generated elements, this attribute may optionally be placed on the root node (the element with the datasources attribute) to refer to a template that exists elsewhere in the XUL code. This template attribute should be set to the ID of the template element. This might be used to share a single template between multiple trees or menus. If this attribute is not specified, there should be a template element directly inside the node.
Should be set to the value of the id of the popup element that should be used as a tooltip window when the mouse hovers over the element for a moment. The tooltip will automatically disappear when the mouse is moved. If this attribute is set to '_child', the first tooltip child element inside the element is used.
Used to set the text which appears in the tooltip when the user moves the mouse over the element. This can be used instead of setting the tooltip to a popup for the common case where it contains only text. The toolitp is displayed in a default tooltip which only displays only a label, however the default tooltip may be changed by setting the default attribute on a tooltip element.
For elements placed within a stack, specifies the position of the top edge of the element.
For template-generated content, the attribute should be placed on the element where content generation should begin. Thus, it should be placed on an element that is a descendant of a template. The value should be set to rdf:*. Elements that appear inside the element with the attribute will be repeated for each node in the RDF datasource. Elements outside will appear only once.
Set this attribute to true to have the cursor switch to a waiting cursor while the mouse is hovering over it. Usually, you would only use this on the window element or other top-level elements.
The width of the element in pixels. It is recommended that the CSS width property be used instead.
The element is drawn with an inset border around it similar to the inset type except more noticeable. It will generally have borders like those that appear around a control such as listbox, with the background white, assuming the default theme.
A box with a small amount of padding on each side.
An element with a groove along its bottom edge.
An element with a groove along its left edge.
An element with a groove along its right edge.
An element with a groove along its top edge.
The element is drawn with an inset border around it. This causes the element area to appear inset from the rest of the content.
The element is drawn with an outset border around it. This causes the element area to appear outset from the rest of the content.
The element is drawn with an outset border along the top and bottom edges. This class might be used when the element is part of a set of items in a row, since borders do not appear between them.
blur ( )
If the focus is on the element, it is removed. The focus is not automatically placed on any other element. Essentially, this is used to call the onblur handler.
This property is available for elements that are derived from boxes, which is most displayable XUL elements. You can retrieve the boxObject for non-XUL elements using the document.getBoxObjectFor method. The boxObject contains a number of properties, described below.
A reference to the element itself.
boxObject.getLookAndFeelMetric ( property )
Returns a platform-specific setting named by the property argument. Typically these would be settings the user would set in their operating system preferences. Two values can be used:
Determines the type of scroll bar arrows that are used. This is used
on a Macintosh to determine whether the system is configured to display
the arrows at one end or both. The four possible return values are
doublebottom, double, doubletop, and single.
Determines whether scroll bar thumbs are displayed as a small fixed size
box or proportional to the size of the content. The two possible return
values are fixed and proportional.
The displayed height of the element.
The horizontal position of the element on the screen.
The vertical position of the element on the screen.
The displayed width of the element.
The horizontal position of the element on the window. The x and y position is relative to the window's upper-left corner, or if the XUL is loaded in a frame, the upper-left corner of the frame.
The vertical position of the element on the window.
For content generated from a template, this is the XPCOM object that is responsible for generating the content. For scripts it is only necessary in case you want to force the template content to be regenerated. You may need to do this if you have adjusted the rules manually. To rebuild the content call the builder's rebuild method. For example, given a reference to a tree myTree, this example will rebuild its content: myTree.builder.rebuild();
Gets and sets the value of the class attribute.
click ( )
Calls the onclick handler for the element.
A controllers list attached to the element. The controllers are used to respond to commands. The document's command dispatcher will locate controllers to handle a command by using the focused element's controllers list.
Returns the composite datasource created when all the datasources of an element are combined. Set to null for elements that do not have a datasources attribute.
Gets and sets the value of the datasources attribute. In newer versions of Mozilla (1.7), the datasources will be reloaded and the template rebuilt.
doCommand ( )
Executes the command event for the element.
focus ( )
Assigns the focus to the element, if it can accept the focus. The onfocus handler is called.
getElementsByAttribute ( attrib , value )
Returns an array of all the child elements of the element that have the attribute given by the first argument set to the value given by the second argument. If the second argument is '*', the attribute may be set to any value.
Returns an RDF resource with the value of the element's ref attribute. If the ref attribute is not specified, the id attribute is used instead.