reading xml file dynamically

[ash chowdary]

hi,

i need to read a dynamic xml file from java code.. i have googled it but got only code for static xml parsing...can any one help in this regard...thanking you in advance.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Can you tell us where you see the difference between static and dynamic XML parsing is? Those are not terms that are commonly used.

[ash chowdary]

dynamic in the sense that, we will be getting an xml file,in which we don't know the nodes of that file except root node.

[Ulf Dittmer]

What are the operations that you need to perform on the XML?

[ash chowdary]

need to read all nodes and respective values.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Any API can do that: SAX, DOM, JDOM, XOM, ...

[salvin francis]

hi,
All code online would be according to your defination, "static"

This is because usually a parser has an idea about the grammar
The apis mentioned will allow you to access the elements of an xml file

so say, you have the following:

<root>
  <name>code ranch</name>
  <type>website</type>
  <address>www.coderanch.com</address>
</root>

and :

<root>
  <userId>salvin</userId>
  <interest>java</interest>
  <url>www.salvin.in</url>
</root>

When you parse this with SAX,
you will come across document start eg: root
and for every tag, you will read the element start eg: name/userId
then you will read the chars within it eg: "salvin" / "java"
Now its up to you to write logic for them.
Without logic, its only known that A contains B.

[salvin francis]

also note that the example I have written is "flat" and usually xml contains nested data within tags...

<root>
  <site>
    <name>Java ranch</name>
    <desc isMultiline="false">A site for Java ranchers</desc>
    <url openInNewWindow="true">www.coderanch.com</url>
  </site>
</root>

So here, your code should expect that "site" is a parent for a series of elements including "name","desc","url"
also note the attributes "isMultiline" and "openInNewWindow"

what would you expect the code to do in the given xml example ?