Simpe XML question. You can make yourself look smart!

Question

I have the following xml file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ToolConfig>
     <database_info></database_info>
     <spelling_info></spelling_info>
     <server_info></server_info>
     <concept_list></concept_list>
</ToolConfig>I have the following java program:
import java.io.*;
import org.w3c.dom.*;
import org.apache.xerces.parsers.DOMParser;
import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
public class ConfigParams
    public ConfigParams()
        String configFile = new String("C:\\tomcat\\webapps\\QueryTool\\WEB-INF\\ToolConfig.xml");
        try
            DOMParser parser = new DOMParser();
            parser.parse(configFile);
            org.w3c.dom.Document configDoc = parser.getDocument();
            NodeList nodeList = configDoc.getChildNodes();
            for (int j=0; j<nodeList.getLength(); j++)
                System.err.println(j+": "+nodeList.item(j).getLocalName());
            System.err.println("-----");
            Node topNode = nodeList.item(0);
            NodeList sectionNodes = topNode.getChildNodes();
            for (int j=0; j<sectionNodes.getLength(); j++)
                System.err.println(j+": "+sectionNodes.item(j).getLocalName());
            System.err.println("-----");
        catch (SAXException se)
            System.err.println("SAX EXCEPTION");
            se.printStackTrace();
        catch (IOException ioe)
            System.err.println("IO EXCEPTION");
            ioe.printStackTrace();
    public static void main(String[] args)
        ConfigParams cp = new ConfigParams();
}The program outputs the following:
0: ToolConfig
0: null
1: database_info
2: null
3: spelling_info
4: null
5: server_info
6: null
7: concept_list
8: null
-----My question is: Why does it find nine child nodes when I only have four child nodes in the XML file? Why is every other child node null?
Thanks,
Jon

Answer 1

Thanks. That was helpful. I changed the getLocalName() call to getNodeName() and now it makes more sense. I do have another question, though: what is a local node name? What is a qualified node name?
Thanks,
Jon
P.S. Or maybe I should just go Read The Fine Manual.