Re: Simple API for accessing data in an XML file in Java ? without having to write all the parsing code myself

[Thomas Nichols <thomas.nichols@iname.com>]

At 17:09 18/04/01 -0400, Arthur Senator wrote:
>I would like to use something simple 'like' the Microsoft ADO record set
>object (a cursor that enables to retrieve and update very simply from/to an
>XML file).


Have you looked at JDOM? http://www.jdom.org - the cleanest Java API I've 
found so far, though less database-oriented than RAX.

A good selection of parsers is at
http://martin.bernauer.at/xmlentity/software-developer.html
         - Thomas.



>I am not a Microsoft developer, yet was shown that and was quite impressed
>by the simplicity of that API and wondering if there is any equivalent in
>Java.
>
>This is a dramatic simplification of things especially in an  application
>that constantly need to read and write to such a file. (Possibly for
>hundreds of attributes)
>Since I don't need to build relations between nodes or to express any
>model/relations in my XML file and don't want to traverse enumerations (DOM)
>or use events (SAX) to get and set a  s-i-n-g-l-e value (big overhead .. the
>parsing ) . I don't need in this particular case to write all the parsing
>(overkill)
>
>The Microsoft implementation allows to filter by attribute or combination of
>attributes (equivalent of a SQL where clause).
>
>
>If there is no API I may have to resort to using a cached properties file or
>store the whole thing in a database and cache it.
>
>Thanks
>Ari
>
>Here is an example of the ASP and XML file that stores the data
>
>         set oRSXML = server.CreateObject("adodb.recordset")
>         oRSXML.CursorLocation = adUseClient
>         oRSXML.CacheSize = 100
>         ....
>         ....
>
>function GetXMLElement(oRSXML, sElementName)
>         'this function searches oRSXML for the first occurence of the
>sElementName parameter
>         'if the element is found then the text value associated with the
>element is returned
>         'on error resume next
>         dim sElement
>         oRSXML.movefirst
>         oRSXML.find("ElementName = '" & sElementName & "'")
>         if err <> 0  or oRSXML.bof or oRSXML.eof then
>                 GetXMLElement = ""
>         else
>                 GetXMLElement = oRSXML("value")
>         end if
>end function
>
>
>
><xml xmlns:s='uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882'
>         xmlns:dt='uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882'
>         xmlns:rs='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset'
>         xmlns:z='#RowsetSchema'>
><s:Schema id='RowsetSchema'>
>         <s:ElementType name='row' content='eltOnly' rs:updatable='true'>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='ElementName' rs:number='1'
>rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='50' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='Desc' rs:number='2' rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='50' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='PageName' rs:number='3'
>rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='50' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='SectionName' rs:number='4'
>rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='50' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='Value' rs:number='5' rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='1024' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:AttributeType name='Title' rs:number='6' rs:write='true'>
>                         <s:datatype dt:type='string' rs:dbtype='str'
>dt:maxLength='50' rs:precision='0' rs:maybenull='false'/>
>                 </s:AttributeType>
>                 <s:extends type='rs:rowbase'/>
>         </s:ElementType>
></s:Schema>
>
><rs:data>
>         <z:row ElementName='NumberMonthsFree' Desc='Number Months'
>PageName='Admin2' SectionName='NumberMonths'
>                 Value='2' Title=''/>
>         <z:row ElementName='TopImageFile' Desc='Top Navbar Image '
>PageName='Frame' SectionName='Image' Value='GMP_22222222_003_01.gif'
>                 Title=''/>
>         <z:row ElementName='BottomImageFile' Desc='Bottom Navbar Image '
>PageName='Frame' SectionName='Image' Value='GMP_22222222_000_06.gif'
>                 Title=''/>
></rs:data>
></xml>
>
>
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