Java and XML

JDOM: Another API?

We have now covered the current API offerings for XML use within Java, and addressed their major strengths and weaknesses. However, the general level of acceptance and excitement over SAX, DOM, and JAXP has been average, at best. The XML community seems to feel that the necessary tools have been provided, while the Java community has been left a bit puzzled at the non-standard ways in which SAX and DOM behave, and the general difficulty in manipulating an XML document, as well as simply obtaining a parser! Therefore, in the tradition of open source software, Java development, and O’Reilly & Associates publishing, we decided to fix this problem, and let you in on the solution: a new API, JDOM.

What’s in a Name?

Many of the early reviewers of JDOM were a little put off by its name, particularly as it is so close to DOM, an API that is more broad-sweeping in nature. However, since JDOM simply represents a document in Java, it was felt that the name was appropriate. In other words, the name was chosen for its accuracy despite its similarity to another API’s name. Additionally, JDOM is only loosely coupled to XML. JDOM can support any hierarchical data format, and it can be serialized just as easily as it can be output to XML, by using an OutputStream or File and the JDOM output classes. In the same way, a JDOM org.jdom.input.Builder implementation provides a robust means by which to create a JDOM Document, and could construct that Document from a properties file in ...