Get the xml document's structure through the java code

[Ravi Khakhkhar]

<xml>
  <books>
      <book>
           <a>
           </a>
      </book>
      <book>
            <a>
           </a>
      </book>
      <book>
        <a>
       </a>
      </book>
  </books>
</xml>

Now I want to convert this structure like this
books
-->book
------>book
----------->a
(Only skeleton , not data, with no repeat tags)
in a nested ArrayList or any other data structure through java code.

Can anyone suggest some direct methods of parser or API that can do this??

[g tsuji]

Can google with keywords like "java traversal xml". I just do that to return only pages of last 12 months. This looks something close to what I have in mind using only jaxp bundled with standard jdk.
http://shivasoft.in/blog/java/traverse-xml-file-using-dom-parser-of-jaxp/

[William Brogden]

If you parse the XML to a DOM (Document Object Model) you will have the structure and can manipulate it with the standard Java library.

Harold's free online book has plenty of examples.

Bill