Java/DOM: Get the XML content of a node

Question

I am parsing a XML file in Java using the W3C DOM. I am stuck at a specific problem, I can't figure out how to get the whole inner XML of a node.

The node looks like that:

<td><b>this</b> is a <b>test</b></td>

What function do I have to use to get that:

"<b>this</b> is a <b>test</b>"

Solution 1

You have to use the transform/xslt API using your <b> node as the node to be transformed and put the result into a new StreamResult(new StringWriter()); . See how-to-pretty-print-xml-from-java

Solution 2

I know this was asked long ago but for the next person searching (was me today), this works with JDOM:

JDOMXPath xpath = new JDOMXPath("/td");
String innerXml = (new XMLOutputter()).outputString(xpath.selectNodes(document));

This passes a list of all child nodes into outputString, which will serialize them out in order.

Solution 3

What do you say about this ? I had same problem today on android, but i managed to make simple "serializator"

private String innerXml(Node node){
        String s = "";
        NodeList childs = node.getChildNodes();
        for( int i = 0;i<childs.getLength();i++ ){
            s+= serializeNode(childs.item(i));
        }
        return s;
    }

    private String serializeNode(Node node){
        String s = "";
        if( node.getNodeName().equals("#text") ) return node.getTextContent();
        s+= "<" + node.getNodeName()+" ";
        NamedNodeMap attributes = node.getAttributes();
        if( attributes!= null ){
            for( int i = 0;i<attributes.getLength();i++ ){
                s+=attributes.item(i).getNodeName()+"=\""+attributes.item(i).getNodeValue()+"\"";
            }
        }
        NodeList childs = node.getChildNodes();
        if( childs == null || childs.getLength() == 0 ){
            s+= "/>";
            return s;
        }
        s+=">";
        for( int i = 0;i<childs.getLength();i++ )
            s+=serializeNode(childs.item(i));
        s+= "</"+node.getNodeName()+">";
        return s;
    }

Comments

[Admin]

No? .toString() of my td-Node would just result in "[b: null]"

[Jason S]

Hmm, I guess I got that confused with Javascript + e4x. I meant call the function which just produces the output, then delete the beginning/end tags.

[Volodymyr Metlyakov]

I say 'thanks a lot'! You saved my time from doing the same thing. Considering performance it is probably the most effective way.