How do you store parsed XML data in an array

Question

Hi, i am trying to complete a small program which implements the SAX parser to parse an XML file. My problem is that i am writing a custom class to store the parsed data into an array, and then make the array available to the main program via a simple method which returns the array. I know this must be very simple to do, but i seem to have developed a mental block with this part of the program. I can parse the data and print all the elements to the screen, but i just cant figure out how to store all the data elements into the array. I will post the class which is supposed to do this, and ask anyone out there if they know what i'm doing wrong, and also, if there is a more effeicient way of achieving this ( i expect there definitely is!! but i have never used the SAX parser before and am getting confused by the API docs on it!!) Any help very much appreciated.
Here is my attempt at coding the class to handle the parsed XML data
class Sink extends org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler
     implements org.xml.sax.ContentHandler{
Customer[] customers = new Customer[20];
     int count = 1;
     int x = 0;
     int tagCount = 0;
     String name;
String custID;
     String username;
     String address;
     String phoneNum;
public void startElement(String uri, String localName, String rawName, final org.xml.sax.Attributes attributes)throws org.xml.sax.SAXException{
//count the number of <name> tags in the XML file
     if(rawName.equals("name")){
          tagCount++;
public void characters(char[] ch, int start, int len){
//get the current string
     String text = new String(ch, start, len);
     String text1 = text.trim();
//there are 5 elements for each customer found in the XML file so when the count reaches 6
// i reset this to 1
     if(count == 6){
     count = count - 5;
     if(text1.length()>0 && count == 1){
          name = text1;
          System.out.println(name);
          }else{
     if(text1.length()>0 && count == 2){
          custID = text1;
          System.out.println(custID);
               }else{
               if(text1.length()>0 && count == 3){
               username = text1;
               System.out.println(username);
               }else{
                    if(text1.length()>0 && count == 4){
                    address = text1;
                    System.out.println(address);
                    }else{
                    if(text1.length()>0 && count == 5){
                         phoneNum = text1;
                         System.out.println(phoneNum);
                         //add data to the customer array
                         customers[x] = new Customer(name, custID, username, address, phoneNum);
// increment the array index counter
                    x = x+1;
                    }//end of if
                    }//end else
                    }//end else
               }//end else
          }//end else
}//end of characters method
public void endDocument(){
     System.out.println("There are " + tagCount +
     " <name> elements.");
}//end of class Sink
Before the end of this class i also need to make the array available to the calling program!!
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks
Iain

Answer 1

Ok, yer going about this all the wrong way. You shouldn't have to maintain a count of all the elements. Basically you are locking yourself into the XML tags not only all being there but are assuming they are all in the same order. What you should do is in your characters() method, put all of the characters into a string buffer. Then, in endElement() (which you dont use btw, you should) you grab the information that is in the string buffer and store it into your Customer object depending on what the tagName is.
Also, you should probably use a List to store all the Customer objects and not an single array, it's more dynamic and you arent locked into a set number of Customers.
I wont do it all for you, but I'll give you a good outline to use.
public class CustomerHandler extends DefaultHandler {
    private java.util.List customerList;  // List of Customer objects
    private java.util.StringBuffer buf;   // StringBuffer to store the string of characters between the start and end tags
    private Customer customer;  // Customer object that is initialized with each entry.
    public CustomerHandler() {
        customerList = new java.util.ArrayList();   // Initialize the List
        buf = new java.util.StringBuffer();   // Initialize the string buffer
    //  Make your customer list available to other classes
    public java.util.List getCustomerList() {
        return customerList;
    public void startElement(String nsURI, String sName, String tagName, Attributes attributes) throws SAXException {
        // Clear the String Buffer
        //  If the tagName is "Customer" then create a new Customer object
    public void characters(char[] ch, int start, int length) {
        //  append the characters into the string buffer
    public void endElement(String nsURI, String sName, String tagName) throws SAXException {
        // If the tagName is "Customer" add your customer object to the List
        // Place the data from the String Buffer into a String
        //  Depending on the tagName, call the appropriate set method on your customer object
}