NAME

VOTABLE::MAX - VOTABLE MAX XML element class

SYNOPSIS

use VOTABLE::MAX;

DESCRIPTION

This class implements the MAX element from the VOTABLE DTD. This element is used to store maximum values for a numeric quantity.

The MAX element is a Tier 0 element, and is described by the following excerpt from the VOTABLE 1.0 DTD:

 <!ELEMENT MAX (#PCDATA)>
 <!ATTLIST MAX
         value CDATA #REQUIRED
         inclusive (yes | no) "yes"
 >

Create a new VOTABLE::MAX object, and return a reference to it. If the first argument ($str_or_ref) is a string, it is used as the initial PCDATA content of the MAX element. If the first argument is a reference to a XML::DOM::Element object, that object is used to initialize the new MAX element (implicitly assuming that the XML::DOM::Element object contains a valid MAX element). The %options hash is used to set the attributes of the new element. If the first argument is missing or undefined, or an empty string, create and return an empty VOTABLE::MAX object. Return undef if an error occurs.

Method names that begin with a leading underscore ('_') are for internal use only, and should not be used outside of the VOTABLE class hierarchy.
The names of the get_XXX and set_XXX accessors for attributes and elements are derived directly from the names of the attributes or elements. Attribute and element names containing embedded hyphens ('-') use accessors where the hyphen is mapped to an underscore ('_') in the name of the accessor method. This is a necessity, since the hyphen is not a valid name character in Perl.

WARNINGS

This code (perhaps unwisely) assumes that object internal structure is always maintained. For example, this code assumes that every VOTABLE::MAX object always has an underlying XML::DOM::Element object. As long as the internal structure is manipulated only by the publicly-available methods, this should be an adequate assumption. If a method detects an aberrant case, a warning message is printed (using the Carp::carp subroutine), and the method fails.
Similarly, this code assumes that XML::DOM methods always succeed. If a method detects an aberrant case, a warning message is printed (using the Carp::carp subroutine), and the method fails.
Most attribute set_XXX accessors do not perform validation of the new attribute values. The exceptions are the accessors for attributes with enumerated values; the new value is checked against the list of acceptable values, as defined in the DTD.