Question

I finally finished my XML parsing code, and now looking at it, it scares me. This code is for a simple Android-based, text adventure game.

I have all my data about encounters, locations, and characters stored in XML files in the ‘res’ folder.

I coded this XML parser to go through the XML files and store data into a class called Encounter. I can then access the data inside Encounter anywhere in my code.

So I guess I got the OOP part down. But the actual parsing just looks so messy.

Is there a better way to go about parsing XML data?

Here is my code:

public class XmlParser extends Activity  {

private String xmlValue;
private int encounterID;
Encounter encounter;

public XmlParser()
    throws XmlPullParserException, IOException
{
    XmlPullParser xpp = getResources().getXml(R.xml.encounters);

    int eventType = xpp.getEventType();
    while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
     String elName = xpp.getName();
     if(eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {     //creature
         eventType = xpp.next();

         //top level nodes
         if(xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("identity")){
             eventType = xpp.next();
             if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("name")) {
                 encounter.name = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("race")) {
                 encounter.race = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("gender")) {
                 encounter.gender = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("alignment")) {
                 encounter.alignment = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("age")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.age = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }
             }
         } else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("appearance")) {
             eventType = xpp.next();
             if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("condition")){
                 encounter.condition = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("skinColor")) {
                 encounter.skinColor = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("hairColor")) {
                 encounter.hairColor = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("size")) {
                 encounter.size = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("height")) {
                 encounter.height = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("weight")) {
                 encounter.weight = xpp.getText();
             }

         } else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("stats")) {
             eventType = xpp.next();
             if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("hitPoints")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.HP = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("armorClass")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.AC = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }                   
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("actionPoints")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.AP = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }                   
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("magicPoint")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.AP = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }                   
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("strength")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.strength = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }                   
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("dexterity")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.dexterity = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("intelligence")) {
                 try {
                     encounter.intelligence = Integer.parseInt(xpp.getText());
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     //ok
                 }
             }

         } else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("inventory")) {
             eventType = xpp.next();
             if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("weapon")) {
                 encounter.weapon = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("armor")) {
                 encounter.armor = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("magicItem")) {
                 encounter.magicItem = xpp.getText();
             }

         } else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("magic")) {
            eventType = xpp.next();
            if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("attackSpell")) {
                encounter.attackSpell = xpp.getText();
            } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("defenseSpell")) {
                encounter.defenseSpell = xpp.getText();
            }
         } else if (xpp.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("treasureItems")) {
             eventType = xpp.next();
             if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("item1")) {
                 encounter.item1 = xpp.getText();
             } else if(elName.equalsIgnoreCase("item2")) {
                 encounter.item2 = xpp.getText();
             }
         }
     } else if(eventType == XmlPullParser.END_TAG) {
         //System.out.println("End tag "+xpp.getName());
     }
     eventType = xpp.next();
    }
    //System.out.println("End document");
}

In case anyone is interested, here is my XML file for encounters:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<encounters>
<creature id="1" type="monster">
    <identity>
        <name></name>
        <race></race>
        <gender></gender>
        <age></age>
        <alignment></alignment>
    </identity>

    <appearance>
        <condition></condition>
        <skinColor></skinColor>
        <hairColor></hairColor>
        <size></size>
        <height></height>
        <weight></weight>
    </appearance>

    <stats>
        <hitPoints></hitPoints>
        <armorClass></armorClass>
        <actionPoints></actionPoints>
        <magicPoints></magicPoints>
        <strength></strength>
        <dexterity></dexterity>
        <intelligence></intelligence>
    </stats>

    <inventory>
        <weapon></weapon>
        <armor></armor>
        <magicItem></magicItem>
    </inventory>

    <magic>
        <attackSpell></attackSpell>
        <defenseSpell></defenseSpell>
    </magic>

    <treasureItems>
        <item1></item1>
        <item2></item2>
    </treasureItems>

</creature>

Answer 1

You can check out VTD-XML, the lightweight library works
excellent with android (the larger does too, but it is much larger in filesize).
There is also the SAX-parser that comes with android.

Other than that, when I use the XmlPullParser, I usually have a map with the tagnames as keys and integers, then I can just get the value from the map and then use a simple switch, which clears up the code a bit:

//Before parsing, or if used frequently the map can be put outside the method and reused:
final HashMap<String, Integer> tags = new HashMap<String, Integer>(9, 1);
tags.put("encounters", 0);
tags.put("identity", 1);
tags.put("name", 2);
//And so on...

//in your parse-loop:
int tag = tags.get(xpp.getName());
switch(tag){
case 0: //Handle encounter tag...
break;
case 1: //Handle identity tag...
break;
case 2: //Handle name tag...
break;
//For all tags.
}