question: public static String serialize ( Object node ) { String ret = null ; if ( node instanceof String ) { ret = ( String ) node ; } else if ( node instanceof byte [ ] ) { ret = new String ( ( byte [ ] ) node ) ; } else if ( node instanceof DOMSource ) { ret = serializeDOMSource ( ( DOMSource ) node ) ; } else if ( node instanceof Node ) { ret = serializeNode ( ( Node ) node ) ; } else { log . severe ( "Unable to serialize '" + node + "'" ) ; } if ( ret != null ) { ret = ret . trim ( ) ; } return ret ; }
target:  This method serializes the supplied XML object to a string.