Output format of XML empty element in Java

Question

I wrote code below to get XML output.

DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
DocumentBuilder db = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
Document document = db.newDocument();

Element element = document.createElement("Test");
Text text = document.createTextNode("");
element.appendChild(text);
document.appendChild(element);

TransformerFactory transFactory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
Transformer transformer = transFactory.newTransformer();
transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes");

DOMSource source = new DOMSource(document);
StreamResult result = new StreamResult(System.out);
transformer.transform(source, result);

What I got is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<Test/>

What I want to get is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<Test></Test>

How can I do this?

Many thanks.

why do you want that? It should be the same thing in all practical uses. — eis
– eis, Commented Oct 7, 2013 at 12:57
I know they are the same in practical use. But I have to do this to satisfy a ridiculous program requirement. :-( — takagiko
– takagiko, Commented Oct 7, 2013 at 13:09

azraelAT · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-07 13:30:23Z

2

There is no clean way to do this..

If you feel comfortable to use duct-tape solutions, you could let your transformer output html instead of xml:

transformer.setOutputProperty(javax.xml.transform.OutputKeys.METHOD, "html");

But again, I have to point out that this is not a clean solution, but it did the trick for me as I was stuck with a similar problem

answered Oct 7, 2013 at 13:30

azraelAT

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