Read XML Resources in Android, using XmlResourceParser: XML parsing interface

XmlResourceParser is the XML parsing interface returned for an XML resource. This is a standard XmlPullParser interface, as well as an extended AttributeSet interface and an additional close() method on this interface for the client to indicate when it is done reading the resource.

In this exercise, we read our own XML Resource (in /res/xml folder) using XmlResourceParser, and display the contents on screen.

First of all, create a folder /res/xml, and our own XML file myxml.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rootelement1>
<subelement>
 Hello XML Sub-Element 1
</subelement>
<subelement>
 Hello XML Sub-Element 2
 <subsubelement>Sub Sub Element</subsubelement>
</subelement>
</rootelement1>

Modify main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  >
<TextView
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:text="@string/hello"
  />
<TextView
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:id="@+id/my_xml"
  />
</LinearLayout>

Finally, modify java code

package com.exercise.AndroidXmlResource;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.res.Resources;
import android.content.res.XmlResourceParser;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class AndroidXmlResource extends Activity {
  /** Called when the activity is first created. */
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.main);
    
      TextView myXmlContent = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.my_xml);
      String stringXmlContent;
 try {
  stringXmlContent = getEventsFromAnXML(this);
  myXmlContent.setText(stringXmlContent);
 } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
  // TODO Auto-generated catch block
  e.printStackTrace();
 } catch (IOException e) {
  // TODO Auto-generated catch block
  e.printStackTrace();
 }
  }

  private String getEventsFromAnXML(Activity activity)
  throws XmlPullParserException, IOException
  {
   StringBuffer stringBuffer = new StringBuffer();
   Resources res = activity.getResources();
   XmlResourceParser xpp = res.getXml(R.xml.myxml);
   xpp.next();
   int eventType = xpp.getEventType();
   while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT)
   {
    if(eventType == XmlPullParser.START_DOCUMENT)
    {
     stringBuffer.append("--- Start XML ---");
    }
    else if(eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG)
    {
     stringBuffer.append("\nSTART_TAG: "+xpp.getName());
    }
    else if(eventType == XmlPullParser.END_TAG)
    {
     stringBuffer.append("\nEND_TAG: "+xpp.getName());
    }
    else if(eventType == XmlPullParser.TEXT)
    {
     stringBuffer.append("\nTEXT: "+xpp.getText());
    }
    eventType = xpp.next();
   }
   stringBuffer.append("\n--- End XML ---");
   return stringBuffer.toString();
  }
}