How to read and write xml files?

Question

I have to read and write to and from an XML file. What is the easiest way to read and write XML files using Java?

Answer 1

Writing XML using JAXB (Java Architecture for XML Binding):

http://www.mkyong.com/java/jaxb-hello-world-example/

package com.mkyong.core;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAttribute;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;

@XmlRootElement
public class Customer {

    String name;
    int age;
    int id;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    @XmlElement
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }

    @XmlElement
    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    @XmlAttribute
    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

} 

package com.mkyong.core;

import java.io.File;
import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext;
import javax.xml.bind.JAXBException;
import javax.xml.bind.Marshaller;

public class JAXBExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

      Customer customer = new Customer();
      customer.setId(100);
      customer.setName("mkyong");
      customer.setAge(29);

      try {

        File file = new File("C:\\file.xml");
        JAXBContext jaxbContext = JAXBContext.newInstance(Customer.class);
        Marshaller jaxbMarshaller = jaxbContext.createMarshaller();

        // output pretty printed
        jaxbMarshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true);

        jaxbMarshaller.marshal(customer, file);
        jaxbMarshaller.marshal(customer, System.out);

          } catch (JAXBException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
          }

    }
}