Bug 5312 – comments aren't available via DOM

• Status: RESOLVED
• Resolution: FIXED
• Component: DOM

[Scott McDowell]

I was trying out a script that takes the nodeValue out of a comment tag.  Here's
a much simplified version that works in Mozilla, and not in Safari:

<div id="whatanode"><!-- Here I Am --></div>
<script>
x = document.getElementById("whatanode").firstChild;
document.write(x.nodeValue); // should print: Here I Am
</script>

When I view the DOM Tree in Safari, it seems all the comment tags aren't there.
 Are they even in the Webkit DOM?

[Scott McDowell]

Created attachment 4273 [details]
Test Case

In Mozilla, this code prints the string "Here I Am."  In Safari, it fails.

[Dave Hyatt]

They are not included for performance reasons.  We do have a code path that will include the comments, 
but by default we deliberately omit them.

[Joost de Valk (AlthA)]

*** Bug 7104 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[James Brennan]

Dave, 

It's unclear whether you mean to address this bug or to leave it broken. Please clarify. Thanks!

(In reply to comment #2)
> They are not included for performance reasons.  We do have a code path that
> will include the comments, 
> but by default we deliberately omit them.
> 

[Dave Hyatt]

We intend to fix.  In fact I think we may already have.

[David Kilzer (:ddkilzer)]

(In reply to comment #5)
> We intend to fix.  In fact I think we may already have.

The comment node in the test case (Attachment 4273 [details]) does not appear in the Web Inspector as of WebKit r14619.

See also Bug 9165 (which you may want to change to a duplicate of this bug).

[Timothy Hatcher]

<rdar://problem/4444730>

[Timothy Hatcher]

Created attachment 9281 [details]
Turns on comment nodes and fixes a few issues caused by it

[Timothy Hatcher]

Created attachment 9282 [details]
New version that keeps documentElement const

Uses the mutable keyword on m_documentElement to keep documentElement() a const. This eliminates my earlier const changes.

[Maciej Stachowiak]

Comment on attachment 9282 [details]
New version that keeps documentElement const

r=me

[Timothy Hatcher]

Landed in r15247