## org.w3c.dom
Interface ElementTraversal

public interface ElementTraversal

The `ElementTraversal` interface is a set of read-only attributes which allow an author to easily navigate between elements in a document.

In conforming implementations of Element Traversal, all objects that implement `Element` must also implement the `ElementTraversal` interface. Four of the methods, `getFirstElementChild()`, `getLastElementChild()`, `getPreviousElementSibling()`, and `getNextElementSibling()`, each return a live reference to another element with the defined relationship to the current element, if the related element exists. The fifth method, `getChildElementCount()`, exposes the number of child elements of an element, for preprocessing before navigation.

See also the Element Traversal Specification.

Method Summary
`int` `getChildElementCount()` Returns the current number of element nodes that are children of this element.
`Element` `getFirstElementChild()` Returns the first child element node of this element.
`Element` `getLastElementChild()` Returns the last child element node of this element.
`Element` `getNextElementSibling()` Returns the next sibling element node of this element.
`Element` `getPreviousElementSibling()` Returns the previous sibling element node of this element.

Method Detail

### getFirstElementChild

    public Element getFirstElementChild()

  Returns the first child element node of this element. `null` if this element has no child elements.

### getLastElementChild

    public Element getLastElementChild()

  Returns the last child element node of this element. `null` if this element has no child elements.

### getPreviousElementSibling

    public Element getPreviousElementSibling()

  Returns the previous sibling element node of this element. `null` if this element has no element sibling nodes that come before this one in the document tree.

### getNextElementSibling

    public Element getNextElementSibling()

  Returns the next sibling element node of this element. `null` if this element has no element sibling nodes that come after this one in the document tree.

### getChildElementCount

    public int getChildElementCount()

  Returns the current number of element nodes that are children of this element. `0` if this element has no child nodes that are of `nodeType` `1`.

Copyright © 1999-2010 The Apache Software Foundation. All Rights Reserved.