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XML and Related Technologies

Overloading a XML file with another XML

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posted 10 years ago

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Hi guys!

I know, I already posted this problem, some time ago, but I mistakenly though, I found the solution. But, I didn´t

So basically, to shortly recap what I want to do: I have 2 XML file. Both files have a similar named section. What I want to do is, to replace section A from file A with section A from file B.
To illustrate:

File A:

File B:

The similar named section, both have in common is <note>, but the contained attributes differ from file to file.
File B is just the section, I want to place inside File A,nothing more, while File A is a HUGE file,where you have to locate the correct section first before overloading it.
The overloading process would be perfect if I would save the result in an entirely new XML, not actually overwriting the existing file.

I tried this for weeks now and I just can´t figure this one out...All I got so far was, to append the wanted section to the right file, but that´s still not it...
And the replaceChild(), adoptChild() won´t work too...

Here´s my code so far,hopefully somebody finds the mistake

public class Overwrite {
	
	public static void replace() { 
		Document doc1 = parseXmlFile("path to section XML", false);  
        NodeList list = doc1.getElementsByTagName("variableParameters");  
        Element element = (Element)list.item(0);  
  
        // Create another document  
        Document doc2 = parseXmlFile("path to XML needing to be altered", false);  
  
        // Make a copy of the element subtree suitable for inserting into doc2  
        Node dup = doc2.importNode(element, true);  
  
        // Insert the copy into doc2  
        doc2.getDocumentElement().appendChild(dup);  
          
        try{  
            Transformer transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTransformer();     
            transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes");     
            StreamResult result = new StreamResult(new FileWriter("C:\\Output.xml"));     
            DOMSource source = new DOMSource(doc2);     
            transformer.transform(source, result);     
            System.out.println("File saved!");     
          
        }catch(Exception e){  
            e.printStackTrace();  
        }  
        }  
    // Parses an XML file and returns a DOM document.  
    public static Document parseXmlFile(String filename, boolean validating) {  
        try {  
            // Create a builder factory  
            DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();  
            factory.setValidating(validating);  
  
            // Create the builder and parse the file  
            Document doc = factory.newDocumentBuilder().parse(new File(filename));  
            return doc;  
        } catch (SAXException e) {  
            // A parsing error occurred; the xml input is not valid  
        } catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {  
        } catch (IOException e) {  
        }  
        return null;  
    }

No matter what I try,it just won´t work...And I already tried a lot of System.out.print-statements to figure this one out,trust me ;)

Greetings,

Randy

Paul Clapham

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Posts: 27291

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posted 10 years ago

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Won't work? What makes you think that?

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g tsuji

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Posts: 734

posted 10 years ago

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Notes: I don't see what does it mean by "variableParameters" and I suppose it means "note" in the description. Due to that uncertainty, I use dup.getNodeName() to avoid that uncertainty supposing the replacement is on the same name basis. Also, you've to insert a layer of getDocumentElement() to avoid "note" being the root node of the "biggerXML" file A. If that happens, no replacement would take place but the construction avoids runtime error neither. Those details you can simplify a bit as long as you clean up the messy bit of the code.

Randy Miller

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Posts: 44

posted 10 years ago

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Hi guys!

You ARE AWESOME

It worked

Big Thank You to g tsuji

That´s EXACTLY what caused the problem!
For everybody who is looking for the complete solution, here´s the code:

public class Overwrite {

public static void replace() {   
        Document doc1 = parseXmlFile("path to the replacement section XML", false);    
        NodeList list = doc1.getElementsByTagName("name of the section to be replaced");    
        Element element = (Element)list.item(0);    
    
        // Create another document    
        Document doc2 = parseXmlFile("path to the entire XML", false);    
    
        /* 
        // Make a copy of the element subtree suitable for inserting into doc2      
        Node dup = doc2.importNode(element, true);      
      
        // Insert the copy into doc2      
        doc2.getDocumentElement().appendChild(dup);   
        */  
        Node dup=null;  
        if (element!=null) {  
            dup=doc2.importNode(element, true);  
            Node targetNode=doc2.getDocumentElement().getElementsByTagName(dup.getNodeName()).item(0);  
            if (targetNode!=null) {  
                 targetNode.getParentNode().replaceChild(dup, targetNode);  
            }  
        }    
            
        try{    
            Transformer transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTransformer();       
            transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes");       
            StreamResult result = new StreamResult(new FileWriter("C:\\Output.xml"));       
            DOMSource source = new DOMSource(doc2);       
            transformer.transform(source, result);       
            System.out.println("File saved!");       
            
        }catch(Exception e){    
            e.printStackTrace();    
        }    
        }	// Parses an XML file and returns a DOM document.
	public static Document parseXmlFile(String filename, boolean validating) {
		try {
			// Create a builder factory
			DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory
					.newInstance();
			factory.setValidating(validating);

// Create the builder and parse the file
			Document doc = factory.newDocumentBuilder().parse(
					new File(filename));
			return doc;
		} catch (SAXException e) {
			// A parsing error occurred; the xml input is not valid
		} catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {
		} catch (IOException e) {
		}
		return null;
	}

public static void main(String[] args) {
		replace();
	}

}

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