code: @Deprecated
      protected final boolean areAttributesComparable(Element control, Element test) {
          String controlValue, testValue;
          Attr[] qualifyingAttributes;
          NamedNodeMap namedNodeMap = control.getAttributes();
          if (matchesAllAttributes(qualifyingAttrNames)) {
              qualifyingAttributes = new Attr[namedNodeMap.getLength()];
              for (int n=0; n < qualifyingAttributes.length; ++n) {
                  qualifyingAttributes[n] = (Attr) namedNodeMap.item(n);
              }
          } else {
              qualifyingAttributes = new Attr[qualifyingAttrNames.length];
              for (int n=0; n < qualifyingAttrNames.length; ++n) {
                  qualifyingAttributes[n] = (Attr) namedNodeMap.getNamedItem(qualifyingAttrNames[n]);
              } 
          }
  
          String nsURI, name;
          for (int i=0; i < qualifyingAttributes.length; ++i) {
              if (qualifyingAttributes[i] != null) {
                  nsURI = qualifyingAttributes[i].getNamespaceURI(); 
                  controlValue = qualifyingAttributes[i].getNodeValue();
                  name = qualifyingAttributes[i].getName();
              } else {
                  // cannot be "*" case
                  nsURI = controlValue = "";
                  name = qualifyingAttrNames[i];
              }
              if (nsURI == null || nsURI.length() == 0) {
                  testValue = test.getAttribute(name);
              } else {
                  testValue = test.getAttributeNS(nsURI, qualifyingAttributes[i].getLocalName());
              }
              if (controlValue == null) {
                  if (testValue != null) {
                      return false;
                  }
              } else {
                  if (!controlValue.equals(testValue)) {
                      return false;
                  }
              }
          }
          return true;
      }
docs: Determine whether the qualifying attributes are present in both elements
  and if so whether their values are the same
  @param control
  @param test
  @return true if all qualifying attributes are present with the same
  values, false otherwise
  @deprecated this method is no longer used by this class and is
  only kept for backwards compatibility, overriding
  it won't have any effect anymore