Retrieve elements that fail validation

Question

Hi..
I've succeeded in parsing an XML string with schema validation. For my app I need to get a reference to the element that triggered a SAXException. How do I obtain a reference to that node. Could I in a simple way create simple contenthandler extention that just logs every element that passes the parser? Any suggestions will be most welcome.
Kind Regards,
Rune Bj�rnstad.

Answer 1

Hi,
I think the parser will throw a SAXParseException, which you
can catch by registrating an ErrorHandler for your parser:
sample:
DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
builder.setErrorHandler(new wpErrorHandler(MODULE_ID,appGUI));
the wpErrorHandler is a extension of the ErrorHandler class (see code below) Once an error occurs, the following methods, can be thrown.
I am not, sure but it seems, that you can't get the element/node as a
result, but you get the linenumber in the XML file instead.
You can register an ErrorHandler on both DOM & SAX. (I use the one below and specify a Module ID ,s o I know which coded generates the
error).
public class wpErrorHandler implements ErrorHandler {
private int count =0;
/** Error handler output goes here */
private String module;
wpErrorHandler(String module) {
this.module = module;
/** Returns a string describing parse exception details
private String getParseExceptionInfo(SAXParseException spe) {
count++;
// String systemId = spe.getSystemId();
// if (systemId == null) {
// systemId = "null";
String info = "[" + count + "]" + "Line=" + spe.getLineNumber() +
": " + spe.getMessage() + "\n";
return info;
// The following methods are standard SAX ErrorHandler methods.
// See SAX documentation for more info.
public void warning(SAXParseException spe) throws SAXException {
String message = "Warning: " + getParseExceptionInfo(spe);
gui.logArea.appendBad(module, message);
// throw new SAXException(message);
public void error(SAXParseException spe) throws SAXException {
String message = "Error: " + getParseExceptionInfo(spe);
gui.logArea.appendBad(module, message);
// throw new SAXException(message);
public void fatalError(SAXParseException spe) throws SAXException {
String message = "Fatal Error: " + getParseExceptionInfo(spe);
gui.logArea.appendBad(module, message);
// throw new SAXException(message);
public int getNumOfErrors(){
return count;
} // wpErrorHandler
Cheers / Christophe