Index: C:/a/Eclipse/3.3/apache/groovy/src/main/groovy/util/XmlParser.java
===================================================================
--- C:/a/Eclipse/3.3/apache/groovy/src/main/groovy/util/XmlParser.java	(revision 9903)
+++ C:/a/Eclipse/3.3/apache/groovy/src/main/groovy/util/XmlParser.java	(working copy)
@@ -44,6 +44,21 @@
  * and child Nodes and Strings. This simple model is sufficient for
  * most simple use cases of processing XML.
  * 
+ * This basic model can be augmented in two ways
+ *   This class can be subclassed:
+ *     The following private fields are made accessible to subclasses:
+ *       locater (get/set)
+ *       reader (get, set via constructor)
+ *       parent (get, created via callbacks)
+ *     The subclass can do things like collect file & location information, or 
+ *     add handlers for comments       
+ *        
+ *   The class of the generated node can be changed.
+ *     The generated nodes must be Node or a subclass of Node
+ *       A new field, if non-null, is taken to be a factory class
+ *         implementing newInstance(Node parent, Object name, Map attributes, Object value)
+ *     Alternative generated nodes can hold more information, such as location information
+ *     
  * @author <a href="mailto:james@coredevelopers.net">James Strachan</a>
  * @author Paul King
  * @version $Revision$
@@ -58,7 +73,7 @@
 
     private boolean trimWhitespace = true;
     private boolean namespaceAware;
-
+    
     public XmlParser() throws ParserConfigurationException, SAXException {
         this(false, true);
     }
@@ -319,9 +334,23 @@
             String value = list.getValue(i);
             attributes.put(attributeName, value);
         }
-        parent = new Node(parent, name, attributes, new NodeList());
+        parent = newNodeInstance(parent, name, attributes, new NodeList());
         stack.add(parent);
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Override this in subclasses to return alternatives to Node, which must be
+     * subclasses of Node.
+     * 
+     * @param parent the parent of this node or null
+     * @param name the element name - a String or a QName or other kind of name
+     * @param attributes a Map
+     * @param value typically a String or a List of subnodes
+     * @return a new node object, linked in to its parent
+     */
+    protected Node newNodeInstance(Node parent, Object name, Map attributes, Object value) {
+      return new Node(parent, name, attributes, value);
+    }
 
     public void endElement(String namespaceURI, String localName, String qName) throws SAXException {
         addTextToNode();
@@ -396,4 +425,12 @@
         }
         return new QName(namespaceURI, name, prefix);
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Gets the current parent node
+     * @return the parent node
+     */
+    public Node getParent() {
+      return parent;
+    }
 }