Java Assign value to an XML Node

Question

I am trying to assign a value to an empty XML node but it doesn't seem to be working. My XML structure is as so:

<createCustomer>
    <customerAttributes>
        <firstName></firstName>
        <lastName></lastName>
    </customerAttributes>
</createCustomer>

I am trying to assign a first name and surname in the following code:

private void createXML(Document skeleton, Map params) {
skeleton.getDocumentElement().normalize();

NodeList customerNodes = skeleton.getElementsByTagName("customerAttributes");

            for(int i=0; i<customerNodes.getLength(); i++) {
                NodeList children = customerNodes.item(i).getChildNodes();
                    for(int j=0; j<children.getLength(); j++) {
                        String childNode = children.item(j).getNodeName();
                            if(childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("firstName")){
                                children.item(j).setNodeValue(String.valueOf(params.get("fname")));
                                System.out.println(children.item(j));
                            }
                            else if (childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("lastName")){
                                children.item(j).setNodeValue(String.valueOf(params.get("sname")));
                                System.out.println(children.item(j));
                            }
                    }  
             }

     }
}

The output of the print statements are:

firstname: null surname: null

but I know for certain that the values in the map are correct because print statements output the expected map values. Also, if I replace the params.get("string") with a hardcoded string, I still get the output: firstname: null. The code is not throwing any exceptions. I've also tried setTextContent but this doesn't work either

check that you pasted the correct code snippet; the outer loop seems duplicated; also, pasting the exception you get, if any, is useful — guido
– guido, Commented Dec 19, 2013 at 12:54
@guido thanks I've formatted the code to be easier to read. The code is not giving any exceptions it builds and runs ok — adohertyd
– adohertyd, Commented Dec 19, 2013 at 12:59

Alex · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 13:09:04Z

2

You can use setTextContent(String):

NodeList customerNodes = skeleton.getElementsByTagName("customerAttributes");
for (int i = 0; i < customerNodes.getLength(); i++) {
    NodeList children = customerNodes.item(i).getChildNodes();
    for (int j = 0; j < children.getLength(); j++) {
        String childNode = children.item(j).getNodeName();
        if (childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("firstName")) {
            children.item(j).setTextContent(String.valueOf(params.get("fname")));
        }
        else if (childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("lastName")) {
            children.item(j).setTextContent(String.valueOf(params.get("sname")));
        }
    }  
}

Edit:

It works, here is a full example showing the result.

import java.io.*;
import javax.xml.parsers.*;
import javax.xml.transform.*;
import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
import org.w3c.dom.*;
import org.xml.sax.InputSource;

public class Foo {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // --------- LOAD XML
        DocumentBuilder db = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
        Document doc = db.parse(new InputSource(new StringReader("<createCustomer>\r\n" + 
                "    <customerAttributes>\r\n" + 
                "        <firstName></firstName>\r\n" + 
                "        <lastName></lastName>\r\n" + 
                "    </customerAttributes>\r\n" + 
                "</createCustomer>")));

        // --------- PROCESS
        NodeList customerNodes = doc.getElementsByTagName("customerAttributes");

        for (int i = 0; i < customerNodes.getLength(); i++) {
            NodeList children = customerNodes.item(i).getChildNodes();
            for (int j = 0; j < children.getLength(); j++) {
                String childNode = children.item(j).getNodeName();
                if (childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("firstName")) {
                    children.item(j).setTextContent(String.valueOf("John"));
                }
                else if (childNode.equalsIgnoreCase("lastName")) {
                    children.item(j).setTextContent(String.valueOf("Doe"));
                }
            }  
        }

        // --------- OUTPUT
        TransformerFactory tf = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
        Transformer transformer = tf.newTransformer();
        transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.OMIT_XML_DECLARATION, "yes");
        StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
        transformer.transform(new DOMSource(doc), new StreamResult(writer));
        System.out.println(writer.getBuffer().toString());
    }
}

It does output:

<createCustomer>
    <customerAttributes>
        <firstName>John</firstName>
        <lastName>Doe</lastName>
    </customerAttributes>
</createCustomer>

edited Dec 19, 2013 at 13:09

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 13:02

Alex

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3 Comments

adohertyd Over a year ago

Sorry I already tried that and it didn't work either. Will update my question. Thanks for your answer

adohertyd Over a year ago

funny but it still doesn't work for me! I'm reading the XML from a file into a document object then parsing the XML directly from there. That shouldn't really matter though

adohertyd Over a year ago

My print statements were wrong. Doh! I should have put in System.out.print(children.item(j).getTextContent()); Thanks for your help

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