Problem finding DTD when parsing

Question

I'm trying to parse an XML string that I get back from a server. The XML starts off like this:
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE RETS SYSTEM "RETS-20021015.dtd">and I'm parsing it like this:
InputSource source = new InputSource(new StringReader(propertiesXML));
DocumentBuilder builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
Document propertiesDoc = builder.parse(source);I get this error:
java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Documents and Settings\jessevitrone\IdeaProjects\AgentScape\RETS-20021015.dtd (The system cannot find the file specified)
     at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
     at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:106)
     at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:66)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.file.FileURLConnection.connect(FileURLConnection.java:69)
     at sun.net.www.protocol.file.FileURLConnection.getInputStream(FileURLConnection.java:156)
     at java.net.URL.openStream(URL.java:913)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLEntityManager.setupCurrentEntity(XMLEntityManager.java:947)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLEntityManager.startEntity(XMLEntityManager.java:893)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLEntityManager.startDTDEntity(XMLEntityManager.java:860)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDTDScannerImpl.setInputSource(XMLDTDScannerImpl.java:288)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$DTDDispatcher.dispatch(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:911)
     at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:348)
     at org.apache.xerces.parsers.DTDConfiguration.parse(DTDConfiguration.java:539)
     at org.apache.xerces.parsers.DTDConfiguration.parse(DTDConfiguration.java:595)
     at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:152)
     at org.apache.xerces.parsers.DOMParser.parse(DOMParser.java:253)
     at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderImpl.parse(DocumentBuilderImpl.java:206)It looks like it's not finding that DTD. I have that DTD is the root of my classpath. Shouldn't it find it?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Presumably you have a URL that returns you the XML
string. If the proprietors of the server have set
things up correctly, their server should also return
you the DTD from the same "directory" as the XML. So
if you give this URL to the parser, it should be able
to find the DTD on the server. That's assuming that
(as I said) the server is set up correctly. If it
isn't, you should contact them and tell them so.
(However I have not found in the past that pointing
out people's mistakes causes them to correct those
mistakes.)
If that fails then use the EntityResolver. Sounds like
you have a local copy of the DTD to point it at.
Thanks, that makes sense. I'm the one running the server, it's just a test server, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's not set up right. I'll take a look into that. If not, I'll try the EntityResolver. Thanks for your .help