Using SAXparser to get info to more than one element (Android)

Question

I\'m new in Android (and in Java too) but now I\'m starting to work with web services.

So to understand better how to parse an XML, I started to try this tutorial:

Answer 1

Problem solved!

Bellow are the sites with useful information:

• https://stackoverflow.com/a/4828765
• https://stackoverflow.com/a/5709544
• http://as400samplecode.blogspot.com/2011/11/android-parse-xml-file-example-using.html
• http://www.anddev.org/novice-tutorials-f8/parsing-xml-from-the-net-using-the-saxparser-t353.html

My initial problem was how I should define the class for the data which I wanted to extract from XML. After I figured out how I should do this (reviewing the basic concepts of JAVA programming), I changed the type of data returned by the ExampleHandler to an ArrayList<"class of the data you want return">.

I give below an example:

• Example of a XML you want to parse:

  
  
      A4
      Black
      2005
  
  
      Civic
      Red
      2001
   
   
      Leon
      White
      2009
   
   
  

So here you should define a class "car" with proper attributes (String type, model, color, year;), setters and getters...

• My suggestion of ExampleHandler for this XML is:

public class ExampleHandler extends DefaultHandler{

// ===========================================================
// Fields
// ===========================================================

private int numberOfItems=3;    
private boolean in_outertag = false;
private boolean in_cartag = false;
private boolean[] in_itemtag = new boolean[numberOfItems];

Car newCar = new Car(); 

private ArrayList list = new ArrayList(); 

// ===========================================================
// Getter & Setter
// ===========================================================

public ArrayList getParsedData() {
    return this.list;
}

// ===========================================================
// Methods
// ===========================================================
@Override
public void startDocument() throws SAXException {
    this.list = new ArrayList();
}

@Override
public void endDocument() throws SAXException {
    // Nothing to do
}

/** Gets be called on opening tags like: 
 *  
 * Can provide attribute(s), when xml was like:
 * */
@Override
public void startElement(String namespaceURI, String localName,
        String qName, Attributes atts) throws SAXException {
    if (localName.equals("outertag")) {
        this.in_outertag = true;
    }else if (localName.equals("cartag")) {
        this.in_cartag = true;
        newCar.setType(atts.getValue("type"));  //setType(...) is the setter defined in car class
    }else if (localName.equals("itemtag")) {
        if((atts.getValue("name")).equals("model")){
            this.in_itemtag[0] = true;
        }else if((atts.getValue("name")).equals("color")){
            this.in_itemtag[1] = true;
        }else if((atts.getValue("name")).equals("year")){
            this.in_itemtag[2] = true;
        }
    }
}

/** Gets be called on closing tags like: 
 *  */
@Override
public void endElement(String namespaceURI, String localName, String qName)
        throws SAXException {
    if (localName.equals("outertag")) {
        this.in_outertag = false;
    }else if (localName.equals("cartag")) {
        this.in_cartag = false;
        Car carTemp = new Car();
        carTemp.copy(newCar, carTemp);  //this method is defined on car class, and is used to copy the
                                        //properties of the car to another Object car to be added to the list
        list.add(carTemp);
    }else if (localName.equals("itemtag")){
        if(in_itemtag[0]){
            this.in_itemtag[0] = false;
        }else if(in_itemtag[1]){
            this.in_itemtag[1] = false;
        }else if(in_itemtag[2]){
            this.in_itemtag[2] = false;
        }
    }
}

/** Gets be called on the following structure: 
 * characters */
@Override
public void characters(char ch[], int start, int length) {

    if(in_itemtag[0]){
        newCar.setModel(new String(ch, start, length));
    }else if(in_itemtag[1]){
        newCar.setColor(new String(ch, start, length));
    }else if(in_itemtag[2]){
        newCar.setYear(new String(ch, start, length));
    }
}

}

After this, you can get the parsed data in the Activity using:

...
ArrayList ParsedData = myExampleHandler.getParsedData();
...

I hope this helps someone.

Attention: I don't have tested exactly like this, but is almost the same of my solution so it should work...

And sorry for my bad English...