Java XML Tutorial

In Java JDK, two built-in XML parsers are available – DOM and SAX, both have their pros and cons. Here’s few examples to show how to create, modify and read a XML file with Java DOM, SAX, JDOM.

In addition, updated JAXB example to show you how to convert object to / from XML.

DOM XML Parser

The DOM is the easiest to use Java XML Parser. It parses an entire XML document and load it into memory, modeling it with Object for easy nodel traversal. DOM Parser is slow and consume a lot memory if it load a XML document which contains a lot of data.

Read a XML file
Read a XML file and print it out each elements.
Modify existing XML file
Modify an existing XML file, by update the element and attribute, and also how to delete a element.
Create a new XML file
Create a XML file with new document, element and attribute.
Count XML Elements
Search and count total number of elements in a XML file.

SAX XML Parser

SAX parser is work differently with DOM parser, it does not load any XML document into memory and create some object representation of the XML document. Instead, the SAX parser use callback function (org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler) to informs clients of the XML document structure.

Read a XML file
Read a XML file via SAX callback methods.
Read a UTF-8 XML file
Read a Unicode XML file via SAX callback methods.
SAX Error – Invalid byte 1 of 1-byte UTF-8 sequence
Common SAX error for XML file which contains Unicode character.
SAX Error – Content is not allowed in prolog
Common SAX error for invalid XML file content.

SAX Parser is faster and uses less memory than DOM parser.

JDOM XML Parser

JDOM provides a way to represent that document for easy and efficient reading, manipulation, and writing. It’s an alternative to DOM and SAX.

Read a XML file
Read a XML file and print it out each elements.
Modify existing XML file
Modify an existing XML file, by update the element and attribute, and also how to delete a element.
Create a new XML file
Create a XML file with new document, element and attribute.

JAXB Example

JAXB, using annotation to convert Java object to / from XML file.

JAXB 2.0 hello world example
A detail example to show you use JAXB to do XML Marshalling (convert object to XML) and XML Unmarshalling (Convert XML to object).

XML & Properties

The java.util.Properties class has build-in functionality to convert properties file into XML file or vice versse.

References

mkyong

Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuffs. Follow him on Twitter, or befriend him on Facebook or Google Plus.

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import java.io.File; import java.io.FileWriter; import java.io.IOException; import java.net.URL; import org.jdom.Document; import org.jdom.Element; import org.jdom.JDOMException; import org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder; //import org.jdom.output.Format; import org.jdom.output.XMLOutputter; public class ModifyXMLFile { public static void main(String[] args) { try { SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder(); URL FileUrl = null; FileUrl = WriteXMLFile.class.getResource("../crypto"); String s=FileUrl.getPath(); System.out.println(s.substring(1)); File xmlFile = new File(s+"/file.xml"); Document doc = (Document) builder.build(xmlFile); Element rootNode = doc.getRootElement(); // update staff id attribute Element staff = rootNode.getChild("staff"); Element sta = rootNode.getChild("staff"); staff.getAttribute("id").setValue("3"); /*if(staff.getAttribute("id").getValue().equals("3")){ staff.getAttribute("id").setValue("5"); }*/ if(sta.getAttribute("id").getValue().equals("2")){ sta.getAttribute("id").setValue("5"); } // add new age element Element age = new Element("age").setText("32"); staff.addContent(age); // update salary value staff.getChild("salary").setText("11000"); // remove firstname element staff.removeChild("firstname"); XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter(); // display nice nice //xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat()); xmlOutput.output(doc, new FileWriter(s+"/file.xml")); // xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out); System.out.println("File updated!"); } catch (IOException io) { System.out.println(io.getCause());//io.printStackTrace(); } catch (JDOMException e) { System.out.println(e.getCause());//e.printStackTrace(); } } }

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <company> <staff id="3"> <lastname>mook kim</lastname> <nickname>mkyong</nickname> <salary>11000</salary> <age>32</age> <age>32</age></staff> <staff id="2"> <firstname>low</firstname> <lastname>yin fong</lastname> <nickname>fong fong</nickname> <salary>188888</salary> </staff> </company>

amit February 14, 2013 at 12:46 pm
How do we implement code for validation in java ???
Collin December 5, 2012 at 6:16 am
Very Helpful Tutorials!
ganeshkumar.t October 23, 2012 at 2:16 pm
HI MKY,
I want to transfer a very huge XML data from offline to online in a frequent manner.
Since the since is very huge , the data transfer is taking time.
Is thr any brain thoughts from your end to adopt to safer and tricky transfer ?
Advice pls on any algorithm or !!!! to shrink the data from offline and deflat in Online.
REgards
Ganesh K Thiagarajan
rafat September 2, 2012 at 2:05 am
Hi brother
please help me i want to compare between xml files to extract the common tags and variably between this files please help me
Andy August 29, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Hey mykong,
thx alot for your examples, they are written verry nice and, as result, verry easy to learn from and to get some own ideas of.
Greetings, Andy
art August 25, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Hi mkyong,
I am your fan. I am learning java from you. Your tutorials are very easy explained .
Do you know how can I read an XML file and store its data into a database and from the database write an XML file
I’m driving crazy because I’m lost.
Cheers
- mkyong August 26, 2012 at 7:39 am
  Use JDBC to read/from database, and XML parser for XML data. What’s your problem?
  - art August 27, 2012 at 10:10 am
    Hi Sir,
    Thanks for your reply.
    The problem is i want to read an XML file and store the data from the XML file into a database i.e mysql or oracle and i do not know how to do it.
    Do you have any samples of that?
    Thanks a lot again and sorry for asking such a question.
    - mkyong August 27, 2012 at 12:48 pm
      Learn XML parsers like DOM or SAX to read the data from XML file.
      Learn JDBC to write data into database.
      - art September 6, 2012 at 9:36 pm
        Thanks a lot. I’ve done it. I used dom . I reckon dom
        s more flexible if you are using an specific and a complex XML file
        format
bradyliu July 25, 2012 at 9:14 pm
I like it
Rupesh Patil July 20, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Hello sir
I need help
sir i want java code that read xml file where tag name of xml file is unknown.
thanks
Ramulu June 4, 2012 at 1:49 pm
how to display all the missing tags and exceptions while validating a xml against xsd
Yajairo87 March 23, 2012 at 6:28 am
When do we should DOM XML Parser and when do we should use SAX XML Parser? What do we need to evaluate in order to choose one?
Thanks in advice
- fucking foreigners June 12, 2012 at 5:36 am
  How about you learn fucking English before you bother to start programming? It’ll help you a lot when it comes to actually making something worth while.
  - Yajairo87 June 12, 2012 at 11:37 pm
    How about you stop you FUCKING the people who are ‘foreigners’? Came on this is not an apartheid, this is a forum for the issue.
    I’ve been programming since 2005 so please do not talk (or wirte in this case) if you don’t know anything.
    Saludos desde la ciudad de México, from the capital city with love :)
    - Tomas July 24, 2012 at 4:44 pm
      Some people are trying their whole life, sometimes to do both.
Darshan March 8, 2012 at 6:31 am
I am facing problem in parsing the XML using DOM on Android application.
I have data like “A & B” in XML tag. While parsing the XML, it only returns the “A” and ignoring everything after &. How to deal with this problem?
- ramarajan December 4, 2012 at 8:00 pm
  try using DOM Parser and set type=”all” in the
mkyong reader February 29, 2012 at 2:31 pm
How can we convert any xml to Java object? looking for generalized solution?
- Satish February 29, 2012 at 5:18 pm
  Using XMLBeans and JAXB.
  - Satish February 29, 2012 at 5:22 pm
    That JAXB can be used for static xml.
    We need to write our own parser Stax(XML Streaming parser) inorder to get the complex types first.
    Then pass the complex types one by one (for loop) to Stax parser again inorder to strike out simplexTypes.
    Then we can make use of jdom parser , which will give the XML segment for specific complex type.
    Then we can easily construct the java Object out of that segment.

abdur February 10, 2012 at 10:33 pm

i want to modify the second record stored in the xml file but when i try to do this it also goes with the first record.obviously it have some solution please help me to find out the solution. my code is given bellow.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import org.jdom.Document;
import org.jdom.Element;
import org.jdom.JDOMException;
import org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder;
//import org.jdom.output.Format;
import org.jdom.output.XMLOutputter;
 
public class ModifyXMLFile {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
 
	  try {
 
		SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
                URL FileUrl = null;
                FileUrl = WriteXMLFile.class.getResource(&quot;../crypto&quot;);
                String s=FileUrl.getPath();
                System.out.println(s.substring(1));
		File xmlFile = new File(s+&quot;/file.xml&quot;);
 
		Document doc = (Document) builder.build(xmlFile);
		Element rootNode = doc.getRootElement();
 
		// update staff id attribute
		Element staff = rootNode.getChild(&quot;staff&quot;);
                Element sta = rootNode.getChild(&quot;staff&quot;);
 
		staff.getAttribute(&quot;id&quot;).setValue(&quot;3&quot;);
                /*if(staff.getAttribute(&quot;id&quot;).getValue().equals(&quot;3&quot;)){
                  staff.getAttribute(&quot;id&quot;).setValue(&quot;5&quot;);
 
                }*/
                if(sta.getAttribute(&quot;id&quot;).getValue().equals(&quot;2&quot;)){
                  sta.getAttribute(&quot;id&quot;).setValue(&quot;5&quot;);
 
                }
 
 
		// add new age element
		Element age = new Element(&quot;age&quot;).setText(&quot;32&quot;);
		staff.addContent(age);
 
		// update salary value
		staff.getChild(&quot;salary&quot;).setText(&quot;11000&quot;);
 
		// remove firstname element
		staff.removeChild(&quot;firstname&quot;);
 
		XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
 
		// display nice nice
		//xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
		xmlOutput.output(doc, new FileWriter(s+&quot;/file.xml&quot;));
 
		// xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out);
 
		System.out.println(&quot;File updated!&quot;);
	  } catch (IOException io) {
		System.out.println(io.getCause());//io.printStackTrace();
	  } catch (JDOMException e) {
		System.out.println(e.getCause());//e.printStackTrace();
	  }
	}
}

&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;
&lt;company&gt;
    &lt;staff id=&quot;3&quot;&gt;
        &lt;lastname&gt;mook kim&lt;/lastname&gt;
        &lt;nickname&gt;mkyong&lt;/nickname&gt;
        &lt;salary&gt;11000&lt;/salary&gt;
        &lt;age&gt;32&lt;/age&gt;
    &lt;age&gt;32&lt;/age&gt;&lt;/staff&gt;
    &lt;staff id=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
        &lt;firstname&gt;low&lt;/firstname&gt;
        &lt;lastname&gt;yin fong&lt;/lastname&gt;
        &lt;nickname&gt;fong fong&lt;/nickname&gt;
        &lt;salary&gt;188888&lt;/salary&gt;
    &lt;/staff&gt;
&lt;/company&gt;

Shridharan November 28, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Hi Abdur,
Please go with the below code. This might help you i guess:
SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
File xmlFile = new File(“D://Notes/DOMfile.xml”);
Document doc = (Document) builder.build(xmlFile);
Element rootNode = doc.getRootElement();
List childlist = rootNode.getChildren();
int num = childlist.size();
for (int i = 0; i < num; i++) {
Element staff = childlist.get(i);
Attribute attr = staff.getAttribute("id");
attr.setValue("5");
Element age = new Element("age").setText("28");
staff.addContent(age);
if(staff.getChild("salary").getText().equals("100000"))
staff.getChild("salary").setText("7000");
staff.removeChild("firstname");
}
XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
xmlOutput.output(doc, new FileWriter("D://Notes/JDOMfile.xml"));

SATISH January 18, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Hi Mkyong,
I need to convert any xml file (having complex types) in to multiple csv files with proper mappings.
I could see lots of utilities available in .net and c#.I am using one .net utility to convert an xml in to multiple csv files.But obviously there is a restriction that we can’t use this .net library on linux platform.
Can u please provide me any java utility (which is purely built in java) , which does the same operation.
Or do you have any algorithm with you so that i can implement in java?
Your help is highly appreciated , and i am constant learner of your tutorials.
Thanks,
Satish
Ravi January 10, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Hi, There is not FTP example. It will help me a lot if you put something.
Best Regards
Ravi
- mkyong January 16, 2012 at 10:04 pm
  Don’t get you, what XML to do with FTP?
saikumar January 9, 2012 at 1:14 pm
hi frnd,
i have a problem with xml i.e i want to get the data from xml in the form of java objects and send those java objects into the database….can you please help me …thanks
- Panneerselvam July 17, 2012 at 3:46 pm
  Hi saikumar,
  You can use XmlBeans.You can read xml as a java object
  - Panneerselvam July 17, 2012 at 3:58 pm
    Hi saikumar,
    You can use XmlBeans.You can read xml as a java object.
    please refer this :http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-beans1/
    its helped me lot.
Shane P December 5, 2011 at 7:30 pm
import java.io.File;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import org.w3c.dom.*;
I think these 4 imports are necessary when reading from XML, I got errors without these imports? Any other solutions?
- mkyong December 6, 2011 at 7:25 am
  You need it if you are using DOM to parse XML
Tutorials November 4, 2011 at 9:04 am
Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue together with your web site in web explorer, may check this? IE still is the marketplace leader and a good part of folks will leave out your great writing due to this problem.
- mkyong November 4, 2011 at 12:47 pm
  May i know what’s the problem in IE? Btw, IE is no longer leader position in web browser market.
Mohammed Hossain Doula February 24, 2011 at 1:35 pm
There is not JAXB tutorial… Hopefully we will get that very soon…
- mkyong August 4, 2011 at 10:29 pm
  JAXB example is added, a simple but complete example to convert object to / from XML via JAXB annotation.
Me December 22, 2010 at 7:43 am
thx… this is how example and getting started should be… straight forward…good thx
bill May 16, 2010 at 6:14 pm
hi,
so you know how to convert xml file to strings using jdom?
thanks
- mkyong May 18, 2010 at 1:35 pm
  use jdom to read the xml file and constructs any string format you want, is this what you want? Just see the above JDOM XML Parser example.
java PDF May 13, 2010 at 6:05 pm
How can I locate the Java cache, and is it safe to delete what is in it?
- mkyong May 18, 2010 at 1:33 pm
  Java cache? What to do with XML?

Java XML Tutorial

DOM XML Parser

SAX XML Parser

JDOM XML Parser

JAXB Example

XML & Properties

References

Popular Posts

What is your opinion?

Do you know the answer?

DOM XML Parser

SAX XML Parser

JDOM XML Parser

JAXB Example

XML & Properties

References

Related Posts

Popular Posts

What is your opinion?

Do you know the answer?