How to Parse Recursive XML Elements in Java

Parsing -- or reading -- recursive elements that are written in extensible markup language (XML) allows you to extract data from each XML element and then transfer it to parts of your application. Using the Java programming language, you can create a parser that reads repeating -- or recursive -- XML data.

Instructions

1. Launch your preferred Java code-editing program and create a new Java document. Open an XML element and study its structure to determine the names of the data elements you will be pulling.

2. Ensure that the Java document contains the following four lines at the top of the code:

   import java.io.*;
   import java.xml.parsers.*;
   import org.w3c.dom.*;
   import org.xml.sax.*;

3. Create a class in the Java code that is responsible for reading the recursive XML elements. For example:

   public class Elements{
   static public void main(String[] arg){
   try {
   BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(
   new InputStreamReader(System.in));
   System.out.print("Example_XML_File.xml");
   String xmlFile = bf.readLine();
   File file = new File(xmlFILE);
   if (file.exists()){

4. Create a Java factory that is responsible for transferring XML data to a document that can be read. For example:

   DocumentBuilderFactory factory =
   DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
   DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
   Document doc = builder.parse(xmlFile);

5. Obtain the XML element for the DocumentBuilder by using the following Java argument:

   Element element = (Element)list.item(i);
   System.out.print1n(element.getNodeName());

6. Save the Java code, compile the rest of your Java application's code along with it (if there is other code) and then run the application to read the recursive XML elements.

References

• Sun: Parsing XML
• Java Samples: Parsing XML Using Java Tutorial