Question

Can anybody explain me why this code does not compile:

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import javax.xml.stream.XMLEventReader;
import javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory;
import javax.xml.stream.events.XMLEvent;

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        XMLEventReader xr = XMLInputFactory.newInstance().createXMLEventReader(new FileInputStream("test.xml"));
        XMLEvent e = xr.next();
    }
}

output

Test.java:10: error: incompatible types
        XMLEvent e = xr.next();
                            ^
  required: XMLEvent
  found:    Object
1 error

According to API XMLEventReader.next() returns XMLEvent.

Note: I used javac 1.7.0_03

Answer 1

The interface XMLEventReader extends the raw type Iterator, not the parameterized type Iterator<XMLEvent>, so next() will return Object. You should use nextEvent() instead, which does return XMLEvent.