Xerces SAX parser don`t initialize a characters array

Question

Xerces SAX parser don`t initialize a characters array from characters() method in DefaultHandler.
I use jdk 1.5.12.
For value "22-11-2009" variables start=1991, length=9.
Result: "22-11-200"

Answer 1

My handler:
package com.epam.xmltask.parsers;
import com.epam.xmltask.model.Category;
import com.epam.xmltask.model.Goods;
import com.epam.xmltask.model.Products;
import com.epam.xmltask.model.Subcategory;
import com.epam.xmltask.utils.Constants;
import com.epam.xmltask.utils.DateConverter;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser;
import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory;
import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
import org.xml.sax.ErrorHandler;
import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
import org.xml.sax.SAXParseException;
import org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler;
public class SAXProductsParser extends DefaultHandler implements IProductsParser {
    private Logger logger = null;
    private SAXParser parser = null;
    private ErrorHandler errorHandler = null;
    private Products products = null;
    private Category category = null;
    private Subcategory subcategory = null;
    private Goods goods = null;
    private String currentField = Constants.EMPTY_STRING;
    protected Logger getLogger() {
        if (logger == null) {
            logger = Logger.getLogger(SAXProductsParser.class.getName());
        return logger;
    protected SAXParser getParser() throws Exception {
        if (parser == null) {
            try {
                SAXParserFactory parserFactory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
                parserFactory.setNamespaceAware(true);
                parserFactory.setValidating(true);
                parser = parserFactory.newSAXParser();
                parser.setProperty(Constants.SCHEMA_LANGUAGE, Constants.XML_SCHEMA);
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                getLogger().log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
                throw ex;
        return parser;
    public ErrorHandler getErrorHandler() {
        if (errorHandler == null) {
            errorHandler = new ProductsErrorHandler();
        return errorHandler;
    public Products getProducts(String uri) throws Exception {
        try {
            products = new Products();
            getParser().parse(uri, this);
            return products;
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            getLogger().log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
            throw ex;
    @Override
    public void startElement(String uri, String localName,
            String qName, Attributes attributes) {
        if (Constants.CATEGORY.equals(qName)) {
            String name = attributes.getValue(Constants.NAME);
            category = new Category(name);
        } else if (Constants.SUBCATEGORY.equals(qName)) {
            String name = attributes.getValue(Constants.NAME);
            subcategory = new Subcategory(name);
        } else if (Constants.GOODS.equals(qName)) {
            String name = attributes.getValue(Constants.NAME);
            goods = new Goods(name);
        } else if (Constants.NOT_IN_STOCK.equals(qName)) {
            goods.setIsInStock(false);
        } else {
            currentField = qName;
    @Override
    public void endElement(String uri, String localName, String qName) {
        if (Constants.CATEGORY.equals(qName)) {
            products.addCategory(category);
            category = null;
        } else if (Constants.SUBCATEGORY.equals(qName)) {
            category.addSubcategory(subcategory);
            subcategory = null;
        } else if (Constants.GOODS.equals(qName)) {
            subcategory.addGoods(goods);
            goods = null;
        } else {
            currentField = Constants.EMPTY_STRING;
    @Override
    public void characters(char[] chars, int start, int length) throws SAXException {
        String field = new String(chars, start, length).trim();
        if (goods != null) {
            if (Constants.PRODUSER.equals(currentField)) {
                goods.setProducer(field);
            } else if (Constants.MODEL.equals(currentField)) {
                goods.setModel(field);
            } else if (Constants.DATE_OF_ISSUE.equals(currentField)) {
                Date date = null;
                try {
                    date = DateConverter.getConvertedDate(field);
                } catch (ParseException ex) {
                    getLogger().log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
                    throw new SAXException(ex);
                goods.setDateOfIssue(date);
            } else if (Constants.COLOR.equals(currentField)) {
                goods.setColor(field);
            } else if (Constants.PRICE.equals(currentField)) {
                Float price = Float.valueOf(field);
                goods.setPrice(price);
    @Override
    public void error(SAXParseException ex) throws SAXException {
        getErrorHandler().error(ex);
    @Override
    public void fatalError(SAXParseException ex) throws SAXException {
        getErrorHandler().fatalError(ex);
    @Override
    public void warning(SAXParseException ex) throws SAXException {
        getErrorHandler().warning(ex);
}