How to parse a specific inner element using SAX

Question

I would like to parse the values of <data> and store them but only the <data> values whose parent element is <process-type>.
My xml file looks something like:
<process-type id="IASPT" module-id="IASPT" working-dir="/apps/ora10G5/iaspt/bin">
     <port id="ajp" range="7501-7600"/>
     <process-set id="IASPT" numprocs="1"/>
</process-type>
<category id="stop-parameters">
      <data id="java-options" value="-Djava.awt.headless=true"/>
</category>
<process-type id="claimservices" module-id="OC4J" status="enabled">
     <environment>
           <variable id="DOCUMENTUM" value="/apps/dctmdev"/>
     </environment>
     <module-data>
           <category id="start-parameters">
                 <data id="java-options" value="-server -Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/claimservices/config/java2.policy"/>
           </category>
     </module-data>
</process-type>
<process-type id="ASG" module-id="custom">
      <process-set id="ASG" numprocs="1">
         <module-data>
            <category id="start-parameters">
               <data id="java-options" value="-Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/sharedservices/config/java2.policy"/>
            </category>
         </module-data>
      </process-set>
</process-type>
......I would like to read the value(s) of data which is within process-type. In this case:
<data id="java-options" value="-server -Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/claimservices/config/java2.policy"/>
<data id="java-options" value="-Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/sharedservices/config/java2.policy"/>I can read the elements, attributes and their values using SAX. The problem however is that when I read the file, it reads in not only the line I am interested in but also any <data> element within the XML file which is not what I want. I tried editing my code but it doesn't seem to work.
The start element in my code looks like this:
public void startElement(String name, String localName,
               String qName, Attributes attr) throws SAXException {
          String processTypeId = "";
          String processTypeData = "";
          if (localName.equalsIgnoreCase("process-type")){
               if (attr.getLocalName(0).equals("id")){
                    processTypeId = attr.getValue(0);
                    System.out.println("process_type/id: " + processTypeId);
          if (localName.equalsIgnoreCase("data")){
               if (attr.getLocalName(1).equals("value")){
                    processTypeData = attr.getValue(1);
                    System.out.println("data/id: " + processTypeData);
} Considering I have more than one process-type and that the first attribute of <data>, id, is the same for both, I should somehow tell SAX:
1) Find process-type element
2) Read its id attribute
3) Read <data> element and its attributes under process-type if any
4) Store <data> and attributes of each process-type (into possibly a map in the form of {process-type id, data value} pair??)
I would appreciate your help with this very much.

Answer 1

I thought the same. The good thing is that the first one is the one I want. The bad thing is that the first one might not necessarily be positioned at the top.
What I mean is when I read this part of the XML file
<process-type id="home" module-id="OC4J" status="enabled">
     <module-data>
           <category id="start-parameters">
                   <data id="java-options" value="-server -Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/home/config/java2.policy"/>
           </category>
           <category id="stop-parameters">
                   <data id="java-options" value="-Djava.security.policy=$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/home/config/java2.policy"/>
           </category>
     </module-data>
</process-type>I am interested in the value attribute of the <data> under <category> whose id attribute is "start-parameters". The thing is that the "start-parameters" and the "stop-parameters" postions could be switched so I cannot rely on the fact that my code reads the first one successfully.
I tried editing my code like shown below but no luck
if (localName.equalsIgnoreCase("process-type")){
               //Extracting process-type attribute id
               if (attr.getLocalName(0).equals("id")){
                    processTypeId = attr.getValue(0);
                    System.out.println("\nprocess_type/id: " + processTypeId);
          if (localName.equalsIgnoreCase("category")){
               //Extracting process-type attribute id
               if (attr.getLocalName(0).equals("id")){
                    categoryId = attr.getValue(0);
                    if (categoryId.equals("start-parameters")){
                         //System.out.println("\ncategory/id: " + categoryId);     
                         categoryStartParameters = categoryId;
                         startOfCategoryId = true;
          if (localName.equalsIgnoreCase("data")){
               if (endOfProcessType){
                    if (startOfCategoryId /*&& (categoryStartParameters.equals("start-parameters"))*/){
                         if (attr.getLocalName(1).equals("value")){
                              processTypeData = attr.getValue(1);
                              System.out.println("\ndata/id: " + processTypeData);
                              endOfProcessType = false;
     public void endElement(String uri, String localName, String qName) throws SAXException {
          if( localName.equalsIgnoreCase("process-type") ) {
              endOfProcessType = true;
......Isn't there a more straightforward way to reading all the elements under a particular element in SAX?
Please assume that all the variables are defined and initialised.