# com.bea.ide.document
IDocumentElement Interface

public interface IDocumentElement
extends `ITreeElement`

A document element is an element that represents the contents of the document. It extends tree element because this is the most common mechanism to describe a document's contents. It is also expressive enough to capture nearly all possible data structures including DAGs and graphs.

All Known Implementing Classes
  `DefaultDocumentElement`, `ControlVariable`, `ControlMethod`, `DefaultSourceElement`

All Superinterfaces
  `IElement`, `ITreeElement`

All Known Subinterfaces
  `IDOMSourceElement`, `ILinkedElement`, `ISourceElement`

## Method Summary

`public `IDocument`` | `getDocument`() Retrieve the document that this element is associated with.

Methods from interface `com.bea.ide.element.`IElement``
``getProperty`, `getPropertyDescriptors`, `setProperty``

Methods from interface `com.bea.ide.element.`ITreeElement``
``children`, `getChild`, `getChildCount`, `getParent``

## Method Detail

### getDocument() Method

    public IDocument getDocument()

Retrieve the document that this element is associated with. The document may be stored directly in this element, or the element may know how to find the document from a parent or other information.

#### Returns

The document object that contains the data represented by this element