java and xml.

["S, Sripriya (MED)" <SripriyaS@geind.ge.com>]

hi,

i am new to xml and i am using it with java. i have a java program which
parses the xml file and stores the values in local variables for further
processing. my program some how doesnt seem to work. i use sax parser to
parse the xml file.

the java program is given below:

public class ReadXML extends HandlerBase
{
  String dir;
  String filename;
  public String desc1;
  public String desc2;
  public String desc3;
  public String disease;
  String tagname;

  public ReadXML()
  {
    dir=null;
    filename=null;
    desc1=null;
    desc2=null;
    desc3=null;
    disease=null;
    tagname=null;
  }
  public void setParam(String d,String f)
  {
    this.dir=d;
    this.filename=f;
  }
  public void read()
  {
     SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
     try
     {
            SAXParser saxParser = factory.newSAXParser();
            saxParser.parse( new File(dir+filename), new ReadXML());
     } catch (Throwable t)
     {
            t.printStackTrace ();
     }
  }
  public void startDocument () throws SAXException
  {
       System.out.println("Start Document");
  }
  public void endDocument () throws SAXException
  {
       System.out.println("End document");
  }
  public void startElement (String name, AttributeList attrs) throws
SAXException
  {
        this.tagname=name;
  }
  public void endElement (String name) throws SAXException
  {
  }
  public void characters (char buf [], int offset, int len) throws
SAXException
  {
        String s = new String(buf, offset, len);
        if(tagname.compareToIgnoreCase("disease_type")==0)
        {
            if (!s.trim().equals(""))
            {
              this.disease=s;
            }
        }
        if(tagname.compareToIgnoreCase("description1")==0)
        {
           if (!s.trim().equals(""))
           {
             this.desc1=s;
           }
        }
        if(tagname.compareToIgnoreCase("description2")==0)
        {
          if (!s.trim().equals(""))
          {
            this.desc2=s;
          }
        }
        if(tagname.compareToIgnoreCase("description3")==0)
        {
          if (!s.trim().equals(""))
          {
            this.desc3=s;
          }
        }
  }
  public String getDesc1()
  {
    return desc1;// this returns a null value
  }
  public String getDesc2()
  {
    return desc2;// returns a null value
  }
  public String getDesc3()
  {
    return desc3;//returns a null value
  }
  public String getDisease()
  {
    return disease;
  }
}


all the get methods return a null value and that shouldnt be the case. i
dont know where i am wrong. 

thanks and regards
priya


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