How to Parse or Read XML File in Java >> XML Tutorial Example

To parse or read an XML file in Java, you can use the Java XML API, specifically the DOM (Document Object Model) or SAX (Simple API for XML) parsers. Here's an example of how to parse an XML file using the DOM parser in Java:

Import the required Java XML classes:

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;

import org.w3c.dom.Document;

import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;

import org.w3c.dom.Node;

Create a method to parse the XML file:

public void parseXML(String filePath) {

    try {

        // Create a DocumentBuilderFactory

        DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();

        

        // Create a DocumentBuilder

        DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();

        

        // Parse the XML file

        Document document = builder.parse(filePath);

        

        // Normalize the document (optional but recommended)

        document.getDocumentElement().normalize();

        

        // Get the root element

        Element rootElement = document.getDocumentElement();

        

        // Process child elements

        NodeList nodeList = rootElement.getChildNodes();

        for (int i = 0; i < nodeList.getLength(); i++) {

            Node node = nodeList.item(i);

            if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {

                // Perform your desired operations with the XML data

                // For example, you can retrieve element values using node.getTextContent()

            }

        }

    } catch (Exception e) {

        e.printStackTrace();

    }

}

Call the method and provide the path to the XML file:

parseXML("path/to/your/xml/file.xml");

This example uses the DOM parser to load the XML file into memory as a DOM tree, allowing you to traverse and manipulate the XML structure. You can then access elements, attributes, and text content as needed.

Note: Remember to handle any exceptions that may occur during parsing, such as file not found or invalid XML structure.

If you prefer to use the SAX parser, the process is slightly different. The SAX parser operates in an event-driven manner, where you implement callback methods to handle specific events during parsing. Here's a basic example:

Import the required Java XML classes:

import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser;

import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory;

import org.xml.sax.Attributes;

import org.xml.sax.SAXException;

import org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler;

Create a handler class that extends DefaultHandler and overrides the callback methods:

public class XMLHandler extends DefaultHandler {

    @Override

    public void startElement(String uri, String localName, String qName, Attributes attributes) throws SAXException {

        // Process the start of an XML element

    }

    

    @Override

    public void characters(char[] ch, int start, int length) throws SAXException {

        // Process the text content within an XML element

    }

    

    @Override

    public void endElement(String uri, String localName, String qName) throws SAXException {

        // Process the end of an XML element

    }

}

Create a method to parse the XML file using the SAX parser:

public void parseXML(String filePath) {

    try {

        // Create a SAXParserFactory

        SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();

        

        // Create a SAXParser

        SAXParser parser = factory.newSAXParser();

        

        // Create an instance of your handler class

        XMLHandler handler = new XMLHandler();

        

        // Parse the XML file using the handler

        parser.parse(filePath, handler);

    } catch (Exception e) {

        e