XML Parsing With DOM and Xerces (part 1)

Description:The Simple API for XML (SAX) is just one approach to parsing XML. An alternative approach is the Document Object Model (DOM), which builds a data tree in memory for easier, non-sequential access to XML data fragments. In this article, find out how to combine the Java-based Xerces parser with the DOM to create simple Java/XML applications.If you're at all familiar with XML programming, you'll be aware that there are two basic approaches to parsing an XML document. The Simple API for XML (SAX) is one; it parses an XML document in a sequential manner, generating and throwing events for the application layer to process as it encounters different XML elements. This sequential approach enables rapid parsing of XML data, especially in the case of long or complex XML documents; however, the downside is that a SAX parser cannot be used to access XML document nodes in a random or non-sequential manner.