Create java objects from xml

Question

I want to create a tree structure for java object. These java objects are populated after the parsing the xml. But what could be the logic for adding child to parent when there are
many sub nodes? I wanted to use one recursive function which iterate through all the elements of the xml file. But I have not got the idea how to add one child object to parent object.
following are my classes. Any help on this highly appreciated.
public class TreeObject {
          private String name;
          private TreeParent parent;
          public TreeObject(String name) {
               this.name = name;
          public String getName() {
               return name;
          public void setParent(TreeParent parent) {
               this.parent = parent;
          public TreeParent getParent() {
               return parent;
          public String toString() {
               return getName();
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class TreeParent extends TreeObject {
     private TreeObject treeObject ;
          private ArrayList children;
          public TreeParent(String name) {
               super(name);
               children = new ArrayList();
          public void addChild(TreeObject child) {
               children.add(child);
               child.setParent(this);
               treeObject = child ;
          public void removeChild(TreeObject child) {
               children.remove(child);
               child.setParent(null);
          public TreeObject [] getChildren() {
               return (TreeObject [])children.toArray(new TreeObject[children.size()]);
          public boolean hasChildren() {
               return children.size()>0;
          public TreeObject getChild(){
               return treeObject;
private TreeParent getChilderen(Element rootNode){
     List list = rootNode.getChildren();
     String rootNodeName = rootNode.getName();
     TreeParent root = new TreeParent(rootNodeName);
     for (int i=0; i< list.size(); i++)
Element node = (Element) list.get(i);
if(node.getChildren().size() > 0){
     // TreeParent treeParent = new TreeParent(node.getText());
     TreeParent treesub = new TreeParent(node.getText());
     treesub.addChild(treesub);
     //TreeParent p = treeParent.getParent();
     // rootParent.addChild(treeParent);
}else{
     TreeObject object = new TreeObject(node.getText());
     root.addChild(object);
getChilderen(node);
     return root ;
public TreeParent buildTree(String filePath) {
SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
File xmlFile = new File(filePath);
try{
Document document = (Document) builder.build(xmlFile);
Element rootNode = document.getRootElement();
// List list = rootNode.getChildren("staff");
TreeParent rootParent = getChilderen(rootNode);
return rootParent ;
}catch(IOException io){
System.out.println(io.getMessage());
}catch(JDOMException jdomex){
System.out.println(jdomex.getMessage());
return null;
Edited by: 870611 on Jul 6, 2011 6:27 AM

Answer 1

Hi
I recommend you use the API JAXB. Is much simpler.
here a link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/javase/index-140168.html
here a example: http://download.oracle.com/javaee/5/tutorial/doc/bnbay.html#bnbbc