Java

Removing / Deleting Child Nodes from XML

See more XML Examples

Demonstrates various methods for removing child nodes from an XML document.

The input XML, available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruit.xml, is this:

<root>
    <fruit color="red">apple</fruit>
    <fruit color="green">pear</fruit>
    <veg color="orange">carrot</veg>
    <meat animal="cow">beef</meat>
    <xyz>
        <fruit color="blue">blueberry</fruit>
        <veg color="green">broccoli</veg>
    </xyz>
    <fruit color="purple">grape</fruit>
    <cheese color="yellow">cheddar</cheese>
</root>

Chilkat2 Java

import com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.ChilkatException;
import com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.Xml;

public class ChilkatExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Xml xml = new Xml();

        // The sample input XML is available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruit.xml
        try {
            xml.loadXmlFile("fruit.xml");
        } catch (ChilkatException e) {
            System.out.println(e.getLastErrorText());
            return;
        }

        // The RemoveChild method removes (discards) all direct
        // children having the specified tag:
        xml.removeChild("fruit");

        // Show the resulting XML:
        System.out.println("Result with all direct children having a tag equal to \"fruit\" removed:");
        System.out.println(xml.getXml());

        // The XML with the "fruit" direct children removed is shown below:
        // Notice that the "fruit" node beneath "xyz" was not removed.
        // This correct because it was not a direct child of the calling node.

        // <root>
        //     <veg color="orange">carrot</veg>
        //     <meat animal="cow">beef</meat>
        //     <xyz>
        //         <fruit color="blue">blueberry</fruit>
        //         <veg color="green">broccoli</veg>
        //     </xyz>
        //     <cheese color="yellow">cheddar</cheese>
        // </root>

        // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Restore the original XML:
        xml.loadXmlFile("fruit.xml");

        // The RemoveChildWithContent method removes the child
        // having the exact content specified, regardless of the tag.
        // For example:
        xml.removeChildWithContent("pear");

        // Show the resulting XML:
        System.out.println("Result with the node containing \"pear\" removed:");
        System.out.println(xml.getXml());

        // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Restore the original XML:
        xml.loadXmlFile("fruit.xml");

        // The RemoveChildByIndex method removes the Nth direct
        // child.  Indexing begins at 0.  The "xyz" child is at index 4:
        xml.removeChildByIndex(4);

        // Show the resulting XML:
        // Notice that the entire "xyz" subtree is removed.
        System.out.println("Result with the node at index 4 removed:");
        System.out.println(xml.getXml());

        // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Restore the original XML:
        xml.loadXmlFile("fruit.xml");

        // Navigate to the node with tag "xyz";
        Xml xyz = xml.findChild("xyz");

        // Remove the "xyz" subtree making it it's own XML document
        // with the "xyz" node at the root:
        xyz.removeFromTree();

        // Show both XML documents:
        System.out.println(xyz.getXml());
        System.out.println(xml.getXml());

        // Also, the TreeId property is an integer value assigned
        // to nodes in an XML document.  All nodes belonging to
        // the same XML document will have the same TreeId.
        // Notice that the "xyz" node now has a different TreeId:
        System.out.println("xyz TreeId = " + xyz.getTreeId());
        System.out.println("xml TreeId = " + xml.getTreeId());

        xyz.close();
    }
}