How to read empty tag value.

Question

Suppose there is a tag name with values ,
<Name>Raj</Name>
I am able to read the tag value 'Raj' ..
But if the tag is like
<Name /> I am getting null pointer exception while reading the tags value..
I have put the reading part in a try catch block .Is there any other efficient way to do it.

Answer 1

try {
        BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
        DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
         DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
         Document doc = builder.parse(inputSource);
         NodeList list = doc.getElementsByTagName("*");
         for (int i=0; i<list.getLength(); i++) {
           Element element = (Element)list.item(i);
           NodeList fstNm = element.getChildNodes();
*//  Here is where i get null point exception because of tag being*
    *like <test/> ,whereas other tags have vakue like <test>value </test>*
           String check_null;
           try {
            check_null = (((Node) fstNm.item(0)).getNodeValue());
           catch(Exception ex) {
               check_null="";
           //System.out.println(element.getNodeName() + ":"  + ((Node) fstNm.item(0)).getNodeValue());
           //if((((Node) fstNm.item(0)).getNodeValue()) != null)
           hm.put(element.getNodeName(),check_null);
           //System.out.println(element.getNodeName() + ":"+ (((Node) fstNm.item(0)).getNodeValue()));
       catch (Exception ex) {
           System.out.println("Exception in PostPaidInfo Parsing") ;;
           System.err.println(ex.toString());
           return 1;
     }I have just caught the exception ,I want to know is there any other way . The null pointer exception arises not because of string being null , But because of the internal parsing.
Edited by: CulbOy on Apr 29, 2010 12:13 PM