How do I convert a text file into XML

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1.00/5 (1 vote)

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Hi,
I was asked to convert a text file in the format

10_1 a;b<>cd<>ef

to be converted into xml as

<ID> 10_1 </ID>
<name>
<Name1> a </Name1>
<Name2> b </Name2>
</name>
<Def> cd </def>
<Ven> ef </Ven>
I am having problem in parsing the first part of the problem, splitting the ID and the name.

I am attaching the code I have written so far, and please do not post suggestions or comments as to how to do it, I have looked into a lot of examples but I am having continuous error issues.

What I have tried:

public class ToXML {

	BufferedReader in;
	StreamResult out;
	TransformerHandler th;
	AttributesImpl atts;

	public static void main(String args[]) {
		new ToXML().doit();
	}

	public void doit() {
		try {
			in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("E.txt"));
			out = new StreamResult("E.xml");
			initXML();
			String str;
			while ((str = in.readLine()) != null) {
				process(str);
			}
			in.close();
			closeXML();
		} catch (IOException | ParserConfigurationException | TransformerConfigurationException | SAXException e) {
		}
	}

	public void initXML() throws ParserConfigurationException,
			TransformerConfigurationException, SAXException {
		SAXTransformerFactory tf = (SAXTransformerFactory) SAXTransformerFactory
				.newInstance();

		th = tf.newTransformerHandler();
		Transformer serializer = th.getTransformer();
		serializer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.ENCODING, "ISO-8859-1");
		serializer.setOutputProperty(
				"{http://xml.apache.org/xslt}indent-amount", "4");
		serializer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes");
		th.setResult(out);
		th.startDocument();
		atts = new AttributesImpl();
		th.startElement("", "", "Author", atts);
	}

	public void process(String s) throws SAXException {
		String[] elements = s.split("<>;");
		atts.clear();
		th.startElement("", "", "Data", atts);
		th.startElement("", "", "Bibliofile", atts);
		th.characters(elements[0].toCharArray(), 0, elements[0].length());
		th.endElement("", "", "Bibliofile");
		th.endElement("", "", "Data");
	}

	public void closeXML() throws SAXException {
		th.endElement("", "", "Author");
		th.endDocument();
	}
}

Posted 5-Jun-18 20:23pm

Souvik Bhattacharya

Updated 6-Jun-18 22:01pm

v4

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Comments

Maciej Los 6-Jun-18 3:09am

Improve your question and provide proper xml data structure

Richard MacCutchan 6-Jun-18 3:31am

"I am having continuous error issues."
Well, I am afraid no one here can guess what they are.

Souvik Bhattacharya 6-Jun-18 7:59am

I think I have posted my query very clearly above. Do read the entire thing first. You'll understand what I meant.

Richard MacCutchan 6-Jun-18 8:29am

Sorry, but you still have not explained what these "error issues" are, and we have no way of guessing. If your code does not work then please explain what is going wrong and where the errors occur.

Souvik Bhattacharya 6-Jun-18 8:36am

I want to separate my text file in the above given xml format. The code I wrote gives the xml version of the text but nothing close to the the format I have mentioned. What should I do?

Richard MacCutchan 6-Jun-18 11:28am

I have a suggestion. Forget about XML for a moment. Just write the code to split the string(s) into the pieces you are interested in, and print them out as you process them. That way you can actually see whether your parsing works correctly. Once you have the correct items in the correct order, then adding the code to create the XML should be a simple matter.

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Jochen Arndt · Answer 1 · 2018-06-06T01:48:00

Solution 1

Use a regular expression (untested: "(.+?) (.+?);(.+?)<>(.+?)<>(.+)") or split multiple times:

Split by space to get the ID and the remaining part
Split the remaining part by "<>"
Split the first part from the above by ";" to get the two names
The two other parts are the paper and task fields

[EDIT]
When not using the regex method the splitting by space from the first step should be done "manually" by locating the first space character in the input string rather than using String.Split(). Otherwise the "remaining part" may consist of multiple sub strings when there are more spaces in the input string.
[/EDIT]

Posted 6-Jun-18 1:48am

Jochen Arndt

Updated 6-Jun-18 2:08am

v2

Comments

Souvik Bhattacharya 6-Jun-18 7:58am

Can you tell me where do I apply this function?

Jochen Arndt 6-Jun-18 8:03am

The code should be in your process() function where you handle a single input line.

While thinking about it:
Splitting by space will work for the ID but might create multiple remaining parts when those contain spaces too. I will update my answer.

Souvik Bhattacharya 6-Jun-18 8:13am

I did, the present update is that it just reads the ID. And shows nothing else.

Jochen Arndt 6-Jun-18 8:39am

Remember that I can't see your code / screen. So I don't kow what you are doing wrong.

But even in your inital example you have only used elements[0] and not the additional sub strings.

Try something like this (untested from scratch without error checks)

int pos = s.indexOf(' ');
String sID = s.substring(0, pos);
// All after the first space
String sRemain = s.substring(pos + 1);
// Get Names, Def, and Ven
String[] elements = sRemain.split("<>");
// Get Name1 and Name2
String[] names = elements[0].split(";");
// Name1 in names[0]
// Name2 in names[1]
// Def in elements[1]
// Ven in elements[2]

Souvik Bhattacharya 6-Jun-18 10:37am

I have pasted my entire code. Is that how you wanted?

Jochen Arndt 6-Jun-18 10:43am

I did not want anything :)

But two things:

Don't post such as solution. You can edit your question and add the code there (with an indication like I have done when updating my solution).

Really?
My code is an example how to get the required sub strings. I don't know what to do with them.

But you obviously need to understand arrays.
If you have an array of strings like names[], then accessing names[0] is a string and not an array as in your code.

The comments from my above post mean:
names[0] contains the string value for Name1. Use that wherever you need it (probably to write the corresponding XML node).

Maciej Los · Answer 2 · 2018-06-06T22:03:00

Based on this: How to split a string in Java: String Split with multiple characters using Regex solution by Ravindra babu[^] i'd try something like this:

Java

String line = "10_1 a;b<>cd<>ef";
//String delimiters = "[ \\;\\<>]";
String delimiters = "[\\s\\;\\<>]";

String[] result = line.split(delimiters);
String xmlContent = "<Root><ID>" + result[0] + "</ID>";
xmlContent += "<Name><Name1>" + result[1] + "</Name1>";
xmlContent += "<Name2>" + result[2] + "</Name2></Name>";
xmlContent += "<Def>" + result[3] + "</Def>";
xmlContent += "<Ven>" + result[4] + "</Ven></Root>";
System.out.println(xmlContent);

Note: not tested, but it should work as well!