code: public final void setAttributes(Attributes atts)
      {
  
          super.setAttributes(atts);
  
          // we've let the super class add the attributes, but
          // we need to keep the hash table up to date ourselves for the
          // potentially new qName/index pairs for quick lookup. 
          int numAtts = atts.getLength();
          if (MAX <= numAtts)
              switchOverToHash(numAtts);
  
      }
docs: This method sets the attributes, previous attributes are cleared,
  it also keeps the hashtable up to date for quick lookup via
  getIndex(qName).
  @param atts the attributes to copy into these attributes.
  @see org.xml.sax.helpers.AttributesImpl#setAttributes(Attributes)
  @see #getIndex(String)