Same old pproblem.. a bit urgent

[vivek sivakumar]

hello
i have problem , my String(not xml) just a java string is like this String response = "<XArC version="2.0" service="GetHitList" type="response"><folder name='Vermoegensstatus'><document><docid>100000</docid><metainfo> " i want to search this string and get all the values which are between <docid> and </docid > , and if the value is not there then the method should return peacefully
i have started this method pls complete this ..
public String getPat(String response , String "start" , String "end" ) {
.............
.........
......
}
just for sake i have done this pls complete this method.

[Manfred Leonhardt]

Hi Vivek,
Not a very good start ...

  public static String getPat( String s, String before, String after )
  {
    String outStr = null;
    //
    // Make sure we have valid inputs.
    //
    if( s != null && s.length() > 0 &&
        before != null && before.length() > 0 &&
        after != null && after.length() > 0 )
    {
      //
      // Find before position
      //
      int startPos = s.indexOf( before );
      if( startPos >= 0 )
      {
        //
        // Adjust to last element in before string.
        //
        startPos += before.length();
        //
        // Find after position
        //
        int endPos = s.indexOf( after );
        if( endPos >= 0 )
        {
          //
          // Sanity check to get substring.
          //
          if( startPos < endPos )
          {
            //
            // Pull out substring using indices.
            //
            outStr = s.substring( startPos, endPos );
          }
        }
      }
    }
    return( outStr );
  }

How about this for the ending?
Regards,
Manfred.

[vivek sivakumar]

hi Manfred ,
Thanks a lot for ur generosity. i will post my experience with ur snippet as soon as it works.

[vivek sivakumar]

"<XArC version="2.0" service="GetHitList" type="response"><folder name='Vermoegensstatus'><document><docid>100000</docid><metainfo><docid>5678789457895</docid><docid>5678954</docid> "
hi manfred ur method works perfectly fine but the problem is that sometimes i get number of (more than one) occurence of the pattern <docid></docid> , ur method returns only one value but if more than one value is present its not returning( i mean if there are two tags <docid></docid> with values then it should return the 2 values but only one is returned how can i deal this problem ..how can i intoduce a looping for this stuff, to look for multiple occurences of docids ..pls advice on this
[ April 25, 2002: Message edited by: vivek sivakumar ]

[Manfred Leonhardt]

Hi Vivek,
Sure make it hard. To get variable number of return values I would make use of the collection interface. The following program shows how the method would be altered and how to use it and the results it produces.

  
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class A
{
  public static Collection getPat( String s, String before, String after )
  {
    ArrayList outVals = null;
    int startPos = -1;
    int endPos = -1;
    //
    // Make sure we have valid inputs.
    //
    if( s != null && s.length() > 0 &&
        before != null && before.length() > 0 &&
        after != null && after.length() > 0 )
    {
      do
      {
        startPos = endPos = -1;
        //
        // Find before position
        //
        startPos = s.indexOf( before );
        if( startPos >= 0 )
        {
          //
          // Adjust to last element in before string.
          //
          startPos += before.length();
          //
          // Find after position
          //
          endPos = s.indexOf( after );
          if( endPos >= 0 )
          {
            //
            // Sanity check to get substring.
            //
            if( startPos < endPos )
            {
              if( outVals == null )
              {
                outVals = new ArrayList();
              }
              //
              // Pull out substring using indices.
              //
              String outStr = s.substring( startPos, endPos );
              outVals.add( outStr );
              s = s.substring( endPos+after.length() );
            }
          }
        }
      } while( startPos >= 0 && endPos >= 0 );
    }
    return( outVals );
  }
  public static void printOut( Collection c )
  {
    System.out.print( "Set: " );
    if( c != null )
    {
      Object[] ob = c.toArray();
      for( int i = 0; i < ob.length-1; ++i )
      {
        System.out.print( ob[i] + ", " );
      }
      System.out.println( ob[ob.length-1] );
    }
    else
    {
      System.out.println( c );
    }
  }
  public static void main( String[] args )
  {
    String none = "<XArC version=\"2.0\" service=\"GetHitList\" " +
                  "type=\"response\"><folder name='Vermoegensstatus'>";
    String single = none + "<document><docid>100000</docid><metainfo>";
    String many = "<XArC version=\"2.0\" service=\"GetHitList\" " +
                  "type=\"response\"><folder name='Vermoegensstatus'>" +
                  "<document><docid>100000</docid><metainfo>" +
                  "<docid>5678789457895</docid><docid>5678954</docid>";
    printOut( getPat( none, "<docid>", "</docid>" ) );
    printOut( getPat( single, "<docid>", "</docid>" ) );
    printOut( getPat( many, "<docid>", "</docid>" ) );
  }
}

Enjoy,
Manfred.

[vivek sivakumar]

well its returning me a collection but if i want it in terms like separater string values like 10001, 10002,..... then how can i do it .
[ April 30, 2002: Message edited by: vivek sivakumar ]