# Class XMLParser

java.lang.Object
com.codename1.xml.XMLParser

Direct Known Subclasses:
  `HTMLParser`

public class XMLParser extends Object

Parser class used to parse an XML document into a DOM object (Element). This code was originally developed to parse HTML and as a result isn't as strict as most XML parsers and can parse many HTML documents out of the box. The parser is mostly stateful (although it does have an event callback API as well), its modeled closely to the Java DOM API's.

In this sample an XML hierarchy is displayed using a `com.codename1.ui.tree.Tree`:

    class XMLTreeModel implements TreeModel {
        private Element root;
        public XMLTreeModel(Element e) {
            root = e;
        }

        public Vector getChildren(Object parent) {
            if(parent == null) {
                Vector c = new Vector();
                c.addElement(root);
                return c;
            }
            Vector result = new Vector();
            Element e = (Element)parent;
            for(int iter = 0 ; iter

    @author Ofir Leitner

- ## Constructor Summary

  Constructors
  Constructor
  Description
  `XMLParser()`

- ## Method Summary

  Modifier and Type
  Method
  Description
  `void`
  `addCharEntitiesRange(String[] symbols, int startcode)`
  Adds the given symbols array to the user defined char entities table with the startcode provided as the code of the first string, startcode+1 for the second etc.
  `void`
  `addCharEntity(String symbol, int code)`
  Adds the given symbol and code to the user defined char entities table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references
  `protected void`
  `attribute(String tag, String attributeName, String value)`
  Invoked for every attribute value of the givne tag This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.
  `protected String`
  `convertCharEntity(String charEntity)`
  Converts a char entity to the matching character.
  `protected Element`
  `createNewElement(String name)`
  Creates a new element.
  `protected Element`
  `createNewTextElement(String text)`
  Creates a new text element.
  `protected void`
  `endTag(String tag)`
  Invoked when a tag ends This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.
  `void`
  `eventParser(Reader r)`
  The event parser requires deriving this class and overriding callback methods to work effectively.
  `protected String`
  `getSupportedStandardName()`
  Returns a string identifying the document type this parser supports.
  `boolean`
  `isCaseSensitive()`
  Sets the parser to be case sensitive and retain case, otherwise it will convert all data to lower case
  `protected boolean`
  `isEmptyTag(String tagName)`
  Checks whether the specified tag is an empty tag
  `protected boolean`
  `isSupported(Element element)`
  Returns true if this element is supported, false otherwise In XMLParser this always returns true, but subclasses can determine if an element is supported in their context according to its name etc.
  `protected boolean`
  `isWhiteSpace(char ch)`
  Checks if the specified character is a white space or not.
  `protected void`
  `notifyError(int errorId, String tag, String attribute, String value, String description)`
  A utility method used to notify an error to the ParserCallback and throw an IllegalArgumentException if parsingError returned false
  `Element`
  `parse(Reader is)`
  This is the entry point for parsing a document and the only non-private member method in this class
  `protected Element`
  `parseCommentOrXMLDeclaration(Reader is, String endTag)`
  This utility method is used to parse comments and XML declarations in the XML.
  `protected Element`
  `parseTag(Reader is)`
  This method collects the tag name and all of its attributes.
  `protected void`
  `parseTagContent(Element element, Reader is)`
  Parses tags content, accumulating text and child elements .
  `void`
  `setCaseSensitive(boolean caseSensitive)`
  Sets the parser to be case sensitive and retain case, otherwise it will convert all data to lower case
  `void`
  `setIncludeWhitespacesBetweenTags(boolean include)`
  `void`
  `setParserCallback(ParserCallback parserCallback)`
  Sets the specified callback to serve as the callback for parsing errors
  `protected boolean`
  `shouldEvaluate(Element element)`
  Checks if this element should be evaluated by the parser This can be overriden by subclasses to skip certain elements
  `protected boolean`
  `startTag(String tag)`
  Invoked when a tag is opened, this method should return true to process the tag or return false to skip the tag.
  `protected void`
  `textElement(String text)`
  Invoked when the event parser encounters a text element.

  ### Methods inherited from class Object

  `clone, equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

- ## Constructor Details

  - ### XMLParser

    public XMLParser()

- ## Method Details

  - ### getSupportedStandardName

    protected String getSupportedStandardName()

    Returns a string identifying the document type this parser supports. This should be overriden by subclassing parsers.

    ###### Returns

    a string identifying the document type this parser supports.

  - ### addCharEntity

    public void addCharEntity(String symbol, int code)

    Adds the given symbol and code to the user defined char entities table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references

    ###### Parameters

    - `symbol`: The symbol to add

    - `code`: The symbol's code

  - ### addCharEntitiesRange

    public void addCharEntitiesRange(String[] symbols, int startcode)

    Adds the given symbols array to the user defined char entities table with the startcode provided as the code of the first string, startcode+1 for the second etc. Some strings in the symbols array may be null thus skipping code numbers.

    ###### Parameters

    - `symbols`: The symbols to add

    - `startcode`: The symbol's code

  - ### convertCharEntity

    protected String convertCharEntity(String charEntity)

    Converts a char entity to the matching character. This handles both numbered and symbol char entities (The latter is done via getCharEntityCode)

    ###### Parameters

    - `charEntity`: The char entity to convert

    ###### Returns

    A string containing a single char, or the original char entity string (with & and ;) if the char entity couldn't be resolved

  - ### parse

    public Element parse(Reader is)

    This is the entry point for parsing a document and the only non-private member method in this class

    ###### Parameters

    - `is`: The InputStream containing the XML

    ###### Returns

    an Element object describing the parsed document (Basically its DOM)

  - ### createNewElement

    protected Element createNewElement(String name)

    Creates a new element. This should be overriden by parsers that use a subclass of Element.

    ###### Parameters

    - `name`: The new element's name

    ###### Returns

    a new instance of the element

  - ### createNewTextElement

    protected Element createNewTextElement(String text)

    Creates a new text element. This should be overriden by parsers that use a subclass of Element.

    ###### Parameters

    - `text`: The new element's text

    ###### Returns

    a new instance of the element

  - ### setIncludeWhitespacesBetweenTags

    public void setIncludeWhitespacesBetweenTags(boolean include)

  - ### eventParser

    public void eventParser(Reader r) throws IOException

    The event parser requires deriving this class and overriding callback methods to work effectively. To stop the event parser in mid way a callback can simply throw an IOException on purpose.

    ###### Parameters

    - `r`: the reader from which the data should be parsed

    ###### Throws

    - `java.io.IOException`: if an exception is thrown by the reader
    Throws:
      `IOException`

  - ### textElement

    protected void textElement(String text)

    Invoked when the event parser encounters a text element. This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.

    ###### Parameters

    - `text`: the text encountered

  - ### startTag

    protected boolean startTag(String tag)

    Invoked when a tag is opened, this method should return true to process the tag or return false to skip the tag. This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.

    ###### Parameters

    - `tag`: the tag name

    ###### Returns

    true to process the tag, false to skip the tag

  - ### endTag

    protected void endTag(String tag)

    Invoked when a tag ends This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.

    ###### Parameters

    - `tag`: the tag name

  - ### attribute

    protected void attribute(String tag, String attributeName, String value)

    Invoked for every attribute value of the givne tag This callback method is invoked only on the eventParser.

    ###### Parameters

    - `tag`: the tag name

  - ### parseTagContent

    protected void parseTagContent(Element element, Reader is) throws IOException

    Parses tags content, accumulating text and child elements . Upon bumping a start tag character it calls the parseTag method. This method is called at first from the parse method, and later on from parseTag (which creates the recursion).

    ###### Parameters

    - `element`: The current parent element

    - `is`: The InputStream containing the XML

    ###### Throws

    - `IOException`: if an I/O error in the stream is encountered
    Throws:
      `IOException`

  - ### isWhiteSpace

    protected boolean isWhiteSpace(char ch)

    Checks if the specified character is a white space or not. Exposed to packaage since used by HTMLComponent as well

    ###### Parameters

    - `ch`: The character to check

    ###### Returns

    true if the character is a white space, false otherwise

  - ### parseTag

    protected Element parseTag(Reader is) throws IOException

    This method collects the tag name and all of its attributes. For comments and XML declarations this will call the parseCommentOrXMLDeclaration method. Note that this method returns an Element with a name and attrbutes, but not its content/children which will be done by parseTagContent

    ###### Parameters

    - `is`: The InputStream containing the XML

    ###### Returns

    The parsed element

    ###### Throws

    - `IOException`: if an I/O error in the stream is encountered
    Throws:
      `IOException`

  - ### parseCommentOrXMLDeclaration

    protected Element parseCommentOrXMLDeclaration(Reader is, String endTag) throws IOException

    This utility method is used to parse comments and XML declarations in the XML. The comment/declaration is returned as an Element, but is flagged as a comment since both comments and XML declarations are not part of the XML DOM. This method can be overridden to process specific XML declarations

    ###### Parameters

    - `is`: The inputstream

    - `endTag`: The endtag to look for

    ###### Returns

    An Element representing the comment or XML declartaion

    ###### Throws

    - `IOException`
    Throws:
      `IOException`

  - ### isEmptyTag

    protected boolean isEmptyTag(String tagName)

    Checks whether the specified tag is an empty tag

    ###### Parameters

    - `tagName`: The tag name to check

    ###### Returns

    true if that tag is defined as an empty tag, false otherwise

  - ### notifyError

    protected void notifyError(int errorId, String tag, String attribute, String value, String description)

    A utility method used to notify an error to the ParserCallback and throw an IllegalArgumentException if parsingError returned false

    ###### Parameters

    - `errorId`: The error ID, one of the ERROR_* constants in ParserCallback

    - `tag`: The tag in which the error occured (Can be null for non-tag related errors)

    - `attribute`: The attribute in which the error occured (Can be null for non-attribute related errors)

    - `value`: The value in which the error occured (Can be null for non-value related errors)

    - `description`: A verbal description of the error

    ###### Throws

    - `IllegalArgumentException`: If the parser callback returned false on this error

  - ### isSupported

    protected boolean isSupported(Element element)

    Returns true if this element is supported, false otherwise In XMLParser this always returns true, but subclasses can determine if an element is supported in their context according to its name etc. Unsupported elements will be skipped by the parser and excluded from the resulting DOM object

    ###### Parameters

    - `element`: The element to check

    ###### Returns

    true if the element is supported, false otherwise

  - ### shouldEvaluate

    protected boolean shouldEvaluate(Element element)

    Checks if this element should be evaluated by the parser This can be overriden by subclasses to skip certain elements

    ###### Parameters

    - `element`: The element to check

    ###### Returns

    true if this element should be evaluated by the parser, false to skip it completely

  - ### setParserCallback

    public void setParserCallback(ParserCallback parserCallback)

    Sets the specified callback to serve as the callback for parsing errors

    ###### Parameters

    - `parserCallback`: The callback to use for parsing errors

  - ### isCaseSensitive

    public boolean isCaseSensitive()

    Sets the parser to be case sensitive and retain case, otherwise it will convert all data to lower case

    ###### Returns

    the caseSensitive

  - ### setCaseSensitive

    public void setCaseSensitive(boolean caseSensitive)

    Sets the parser to be case sensitive and retain case, otherwise it will convert all data to lower case

    ###### Parameters

    - `caseSensitive`: the caseSensitive to set