Question

Having trouble with getElementsByTagName() method.

Asked by: dan4good

A   String path = Address;
B    String path = "//Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[1]/Address";
C    String path = "/Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[1]/Address";
D    String path = "Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[1]/Address";
E    String path = "Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[@id='Carrier']/Address";
F    String path = "Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[id='Carrier']/Address";
G   String path = "Company/GUIInputRequest/TXLife/TXLifeRequest/OLifE/Party[ 'Carrier' ]/Address";

I am trying to use the getElementsByTagName() method of the Document class to get at the root Node of XML as shown below in the code arbitrarily labeled '1'.
When I use line A to value the variable path (given the below XML), everything works fine.

However whenever I use any of the forms labeled B though G ,  I keep getting a NullPointerException at the code point that is labeled '2'


1      root = document.getElementsByTagName(path);
2      Node element = root.item(0);

As you can see by the sample XML below, the element Party is a repeating element that can occur 1 to N times.  I need to get at a specific instance of the element.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   <Company>      
-  <GUIInputRequest>
-  <TXLife>
-  <TXLifeRequest>
   <TransRefGUID>659</TransRefGUID>
   <TransExeDate>2009-06-29</TransExeDate>
   <TransType tc="111">Illustration Request</TransType>
+ <OLifEExtension ExtensionCode="TXLifeRequest" VendorCode="132">
+ <IllustrationRequest>
-  <OLifE>
   <CurrentLanguage tc="9">English</CurrentLanguage>
+ <PolicyProduct>
-  <Holding>
   <HoldingTypeCode tc="2">Policy</HoldingTypeCode>
   <HoldingStatus tc="3">Proposed</HoldingStatus>
   <CurrencyTypeCode tc="840">US Dollars</CurrencyTypeCode>
+ <Policy>
   </Holding>
+ <Party id="Client_1">
   <Party id="Carrier">
   <PartyTypeCode tc="2">Organization</PartyTypeCode>
   <FullName>Sample Life Insurance Company</FullName>
   <ResidenceState tc="26">MA#Massachusetts</ResidenceState>
   <ResidenceCountry tc="1">USA#United States of America</ResidenceCountry>
-  <Carrier>
   <NAICCode>ZZZZZ9</NAICCode>
   </Carrier>
///////////////////////////////////////////////////

String path = "Address";
 
if (cxt != null) {
try{
	PersistenceEngine pe = cxt.getPersistenceEngine();
	Document document = pe.getDocument();
	root = document.getElementsByTagName(path);
} catch (Exception e) {
				
}
 
int idx = 0;			
Node element = root.item(0);
NodeList children = element.getChildNodes();
                                  
1:
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Asked On
2009-09-29 at 05:51:35ID24769821
Tags

Language

,

Java

Topics

Java Standard Edition

,

Java Programming Language

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: dan4goodPosted on 2009-09-29 at 05:58:35ID: 25448443

oooops, I didn't quite get the whole XML stream.....Obviously
<Carrier>
<NAICCode>ZZZZZ9</NAICCode>
</Carrier>
<Address>
<AddressTypeCode tc="27">Headquarters</AddressTypeCode>
<Line1>1295 State Street</Line1>
<City>Springfield</City>
<State>Massachusetts</State>
<Zip>01111-0001</Zip>
</Address>
</Party>
is needed as well.

 

by: objectsPosted on 2009-09-29 at 18:12:33ID: 25454836

You need to use XPath to do that, getElementsByTagName just supports specifying the actual tag name

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-javaxpathapi.html

 

by: dan4goodPosted on 2009-09-30 at 04:56:35ID: 31634820

Thanks, that works exactly like I want.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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