Writing a Custom Transformer

Question

Hi, I'm currently using a transformer to output a DOM structure as an XML file. I have not modified the transformer in any way. What I need to do is:
If a DOM Element node has an attribute called "disable" then don't write its XML tag, else write its tag as normal.
Is there a way to modify the transformer to do this? Any help appreciated.
Current code:
  public void fWrite(File fOut) {
    try {
      // Use a Transformer for output
      TransformerFactory tFactory =
          TransformerFactory.newInstance();
      Transformer transformer = tFactory.newTransformer();
      DOMSource source = new DOMSource(te.document);
      StreamResult result = new StreamResult(fOut);
      transformer.transform(source, result);
    catch (TransformerConfigurationException tce) {
      // Error generated by the parser
      System.out.println("* Transformer Factory error");
      System.out.println("  " + tce.getMessage());
      // Use the contained exception, if any
      Throwable x = tce;
      if (tce.getException() != null)
        x = tce.getException();
      x.printStackTrace();
    catch (TransformerException e) {
      // Error generated by the parser
      System.out.println("* Transformation error");
      System.out.println("  " + e.getMessage());
      // Use the contained exception, if any
      Throwable x = e;
      if (e.getException() != null)
        x = e.getException();
      x.printStackTrace();
  }THX
Manehad

Answer 1

You will need to add a XSL to your transformer (refer to XMl tutorial: http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/dist/1.1/docs/tutorial/xslt/index.html ). You add a Source to the newTransformer method, which will be used when transforming...
Code example:
import java.io.File;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
StreamSource xslsource = new StreamSource( new File( "xslfile.xsl" ) );
Transformer transformer = tFactory.newTransformer( xslsource );
You now need to specify the xsl-sourcefile, I recommend you read through the tutorial listed above, and maybe even the XSL/XSLT specification from http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/ if you feel the need. In the xsl-file, you can use something like the following code to determine whether the attribute is there or not and choose what to do if...
Code example:
<xsl:choose>
     <xsl:when test="@disable"></xsl:when>
     <xsl:otherwise>
     ... Your code goes in here ...
     </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
I hope this helps, I am not an expert programmer but I myself am trying to learn how to do this at the moment...
good luck...
/Richard