public static String getValue(Element e) {
        if (e == null) return "";
        Node child = e.getFirstChild();
        if (child == null) return "";
        if (child.getNodeValue() == null) return "";
        return child.getNodeValue();
    }
Gets the string contents of the given Element. Returns "", never null if
the element is null, or has no content
vespajlib/src/main/java/com/yahoo/text/XML.java