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How To Read XML File In Java

Last Updated : Mar 11, 2024

How To Read XML File In Java

In this article we will show you the solution of how to read xml file in java, when reading XML files in Java, the desired data is extracted via parsing the XML document. Using the Java API for XML Processing (JAXP), which offers a set of interfaces and classes for working with XML, is one popular strategy.

Typically, the procedure entails building a parser, loading the XML file, and going through each element.

When working with XML files, it's crucial to handle exceptions like parsing problems or file not found exceptions.

Additionally, to make sure the XML file is well-formed and follows any given schema, you might need to think about utilising proper error handling and validation mechanisms.

Now we'll talk about the idea of reading XML files in Java.

Step By Step Guide On How To Read XML File In Java :-

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import java.io.File;
public class XMLReader {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            // Create a DocumentBuilder
            DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
            DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
            File xmlFile = new File("path/to/your/xml/file.xml");
            Document document = builder.parse(xmlFile);
            // Normalize the document
            document.getDocumentElement().normalize();
            // Get the root element
            Element root = document.getDocumentElement();
            System.out.println("Root element: " + root.getNodeName());
            NodeList nodeList = root.getChildNodes();
            // Iterate through the child elements
            for (int i = 0; i < nodeList.getLength(); i++) {
                Node node = nodeList.item(i);
                if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
                    Element element = (Element) node;
                    // Access element attributes
                    String attributeValue = element.getAttribute("attributeName");
                    System.out.println("Attribute value: " + attributeValue);
                    // Access element text content
                    String textContent = element.getTextContent();
                    System.out.println("Text content: " + textContent);
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}
  1. To provide the requisite capability for parsing as well as working with XML documents, we import the relevant classes & interfaces from the javax.xml.parsers & org.w3c.dom packages.
  2. As a public class, the XMLReader class is defined.
  3. The program's primary method acts as its entry point.
  4. The first thing we do is use the DocumentBuilderFactory class to create a DocumentBuilder.
  5. The task of processing XML files and generating a Document object is carried out by the DocumentBuilder.
  6. By constructing a File object with the necessary file path, we specify the XML file to be read.
  7. The XML file is loaded and parsed using the builder.parse(xmlFile) method, producing a Document object that serves as a representation of the complete XML file.
  8. The document has a name.getDocumentElement().By using the normalise() method to normalise the page, whitespace, as well as additional structural components are handled consistently.
  9. We get the root element of an XML document through document.getDocumentElement().
  10. The name is displayed to the console using root.getNodeName().
  11. We get the child nodes for the root element with root.getChildNodes(), that returns a NodeList that includes all child nodes.
  12. We utilize a loop to cycle through the root element's child nodes.
  13. Within the loop, we verify every child node to make sure it is an element node (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE).
  14. This is significant because the XML document might also include text nodes or comment nodes.
  15. In the event that the node is an element node, we cast it to an Element object so that we may access its text content and attributes.
  16. We get the value of the attribute of the element through element.getAttribute("attributeName"), in which "attributeName" should be substituted with the actual name of the attribute we want to retrieve.
  17. Using System.out.println(), the attribute value is printed to the console.
  18. By calling element.getTextContent(), that returns the appended text content of all the element's child text nodes, we can get the element's text content.
  19. The text is printed to the console.
  20. Try-catch blocks are used to handle any exceptions that might arise while the code is being parsed.
  21. In the event that an exception is caught, the console is reported with the stack trace.

Conclusion :-

As a result, we have successfully learnt the Java notion of reading XML files.

We also discovered that parsing the XML file using the JAXP API is required in order to read XML files in Java.

We may load and parse the XML file to obtain a Document object that represents the XML structure by building a DocumentBuilder and utilising its parse() method.

I hope this article on how to read xml file in java helps you and the steps and method mentioned above are easy to follow and implement.

Author Image About Pragati

Experienced coding content writer who enjoys breaking down complex concepts in programming languages like Java, Python, C, and C++. Over three years of experience producing interesting and relevant content for a variety of entities. Committed to providing concise and easy-to-understand articles that assist readers in easily understanding technology and industry trends in the world of coding and software development.

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