How to Write XML in Java

Sheeraz Gul Feb 02, 2024
How to Write XML in Java

The Java built-in Document Object Model API is used to create and write XML files in Java. This tutorial demonstrates how to write XML to console and files in Java.

Java Write XML

As mentioned above, DOM API is used to write XML into files in Java. Here is a simple example of writing XML to a file in Java.

package Delfstack;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
import javax.xml.transform.*;
import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;

public class Write_XML {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws ParserConfigurationException, TransformerException {
    DocumentBuilderFactory Doc_Build_Factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
    DocumentBuilder Document_Builder = Doc_Build_Factory.newDocumentBuilder();

    // the root elements for DOM Document
    // create XML fields, elements, etc.
    Document document = Document_Builder.newDocument();
    Element Root_Element = document.createElement("School");
    document.appendChild(Root_Element);
    document.createElement("Teacher");
    Root_Element.appendChild(document.createElement("Teacher"));
    document.createElement("Student");
    Root_Element.appendChild(document.createElement("Student"));

    // write DOM document in a file
    try (FileOutputStream output_file = new FileOutputStream("school.xml")) {
      Write_Xml(document, output_file);
      System.out.println("The XML has been successfully written to school.xml");
    } catch (IOException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

  // Method to generate XML. Writing output stream
  private static void Write_Xml(Document document, OutputStream output_file)
      throws TransformerException {
    TransformerFactory Transformer_Factory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
    Transformer New_Transformer = Transformer_Factory.newTransformer();
    DOMSource Source_XML = new DOMSource(document);
    StreamResult Result_XML = new StreamResult(output_file);

    New_Transformer.transform(Source_XML, Result_XML);
  }
}

The code above will create a file and write XML syntax to it. See output:

The XML has been successfully written to school.xml

Write XML

Let’s try another example with more fields, and this example will write the XML to the file and the console both. See example:

package Delfstack;

import java.io.File;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.OutputKeys;
import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;

public class Write_XML {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    DocumentBuilderFactory Doc_Builder_Factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
    DocumentBuilder Document_Builder;
    try {
      Document_Builder = Doc_Builder_Factory.newDocumentBuilder();
      Document document = Document_Builder.newDocument();
      // adding elements to Document
      Element Root_Element = document.createElementNS("https://www.delftstack.com/", "Tutorials");
      document.appendChild(Root_Element);

      // add a first child element to the root element
      Root_Element.appendChild(Get_Tutorial(document, "1",
          "Perform String to String Array Conversion in Java",
          "https://www.delftstack.com/howto/java/how-to-perform-string-to-string-array-conversion-in-java/",
          "Java", "May-21, 2020"));

      // add a second child
      Root_Element.appendChild(Get_Tutorial(document, "2", "Compile a C++ Program Using GCC",
          "https://www.delftstack.com/howto/cpp/gcc-compile-cpp/", "C++", "March-25, 2022"));
      // add third child
      Root_Element.appendChild(Get_Tutorial(document, "3", "Python Tutorial - Introduction",
          "https://www.delftstack.com/tutorial/python-3-basic-tutorial/python-introduction/",
          "Python", "January-29, 2018"));

      // create output
      TransformerFactory Transformer_Factory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
      Transformer transformer = Transformer_Factory.newTransformer();
      // open indent for the xml code
      transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes");
      DOMSource Dom_Source = new DOMSource(document);

      // write to file and console both
      StreamResult XML_file = new StreamResult(new File("delftstack.xml"));
      StreamResult XML_console = new StreamResult(System.out);
      // write data
      transformer.transform(Dom_Source, XML_file);
      transformer.transform(Dom_Source, XML_console);

      System.out.println("The XML Has been written to the file and console");

    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

  private static Node Get_Tutorial(Document document, String id, String article_name, String link,
      String programming_language, String date_created) {
    Element tutorial = document.createElement("Tutorial");

    // set the tutorial id attribute
    tutorial.setAttribute("Id", id);

    // create article name element
    tutorial.appendChild(Get_Tutorial_Elements(document, tutorial, "ArticleName", article_name));

    // create the Link element
    tutorial.appendChild(Get_Tutorial_Elements(document, tutorial, "Link", link));

    // create the Programming Language element
    tutorial.appendChild(
        Get_Tutorial_Elements(document, tutorial, "ProgrammingLanguage", programming_language));

    // create Date Created element
    tutorial.appendChild(Get_Tutorial_Elements(document, tutorial, "DateCreated", date_created));

    return tutorial;
  }

  // method to create text node
  private static Node Get_Tutorial_Elements(
      Document document, Element element, String element_name, String element_value) {
    Element element_node = document.createElement(element_name);
    element_node.appendChild(document.createTextNode(element_value));
    return element_node;
  }
}

The above code will create an XML file for the tutorials of delftstack.com. Each tutorial consists of four fields, ArticleName, Link, ProgrammingLanguage, and DateCreated.

The code will create the XML file and also write the XML to the console. See outputs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<Tutorials xmlns="https://www.delftstack.com/">
    <Tutorial Id="1">
        <ArticleName>Perform String to String Array Conversion in Java</ArticleName>
        <Link>https://www.delftstack.com/howto/java/how-to-perform-string-to-string-array-conversion-in-java/</Link>
        <ProgrammingLanguage>Java</ProgrammingLanguage>
        <DateCreated>May-21, 2020</DateCreated>
    </Tutorial>
    <Tutorial Id="2">
        <ArticleName>Compile a C++ Program Using GCC</ArticleName>
        <Link>https://www.delftstack.com/howto/cpp/gcc-compile-cpp/</Link>
        <ProgrammingLanguage>C++</ProgrammingLanguage>
        <DateCreated>March-25, 2022</DateCreated>
    </Tutorial>
    <Tutorial Id="3">
        <ArticleName>Python Tutorial - Introduction</ArticleName>
        <Link>https://www.delftstack.com/tutorial/python-3-basic-tutorial/python-introduction/</Link>
        <ProgrammingLanguage>Python</ProgrammingLanguage>
        <DateCreated>January-29, 2018</DateCreated>
    </Tutorial>
</Tutorials>
The XML Has been written to the file and console

Write XML 1

Author: Sheeraz Gul
Sheeraz Gul avatar Sheeraz Gul avatar

Sheeraz is a Doctorate fellow in Computer Science at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, China. He has 7 years of Software Development experience in AI, Web, Database, and Desktop technologies. He writes tutorials in Java, PHP, Python, GoLang, R, etc., to help beginners learn the field of Computer Science.

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