How do I parse and display things from an XML in an Android application?

Question

The XML file I want to parse is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<items>
    <item>
        <question>Question?</question>
        <answer1>Answer 1 is fun</answer1>
        <answer2>Answer 2 is too</answer2>
        <answer3>Answer 3 is me</answer3>
        <answer4>Answer 4 no more</answer4>
        <correctanswer>Answer 1 is fun</correctanswer>
        <comment>Sent in by: Salamader Jack, I need help :(</comment>
    </item>
</items>

The code I have written so far may or may not be completely off. This is my first time writing a parser like this. I've been told there are many ways so please if there are other suggestions, feel free to let me know! :)

package assinment1.sfapps.com.myapplication;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.res.Resources;
import android.content.res.XmlResourceParser;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.TextView;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;


class question {
    public String question;
    public String answer1;
    public String answer2;
    public String answer3;
    public String answer4;
    public String comment;
    public String correctAnswer;

}

public class TriviaGame extends Activity {
    ArrayList<question> questions;
    question q;
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_trivia_game);

        TextView myXmlContent = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.tvfun);
        String stringXmlContent;
        try {
            stringXmlContent = getEventsFromAnXML(this);
            myXmlContent.setText(stringXmlContent);
        } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    private String getEventsFromAnXML(Activity activity)
            throws XmlPullParserException, IOException
    {
        //StringBuffer stringBuffer = new StringBuffer();
        Resources res = activity.getResources();
        XmlResourceParser xpp = res.getXml(R.xml.questions_q);
        xpp.next();
        int eventType = xpp.getEventType();

        while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT)
        {
            q = new question();
            if(eventType == XmlPullParser.START_DOCUMENT || (xpp.getName() == "items" || xpp.getName() == "item" ))
            {
              //  stringBuffer.append("--- Start XML ---");
            }
            else if(eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG)
            {
                if(){

                }
                if(xpp.getName() == "question"){
                    q.question = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "answer1"){
                    q.answer1 = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "answer2"){
                    q.answer2 = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "answer3"){
                    q.answer3 = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "answer4"){
                    q.answer4 = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "comment"){
                    q.comment = xpp.getText();
                }else if(xpp.getName() ==  "correctAnswer"){
                    q.correctAnswer = xpp.getText();
                }
                questions.add(q);
               // stringBuffer.append("\nSTART_TAG: "+xpp.getName());
            }
            eventType = xpp.next();

        }

        return q.toString();
    }

    private void printQ(ArrayList<question> questions) {
        //findViewById()
    }


    @Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item){
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id=item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if(id==R.id.action_settings){
        return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }
}

Any help would be amazing. I do know that this code is unfinished.. It also crashes. I am trying to store the questions I take out of the XML in the array list I created. I am also trying to make sure this will store multiple questions. Thank you very much for even looking at this haha.

Consider looking at [this RSS feed parser](https://github.com/Pkmmte/PkRSS/blob/master/pkrss/src/main/java/com/pkmmte/pkrss/parser/Rss2Parser.java) for an example on how to use the XmlPullParser. You're on the right track, just right now you're only getting the event and trying to display that. You need to go through each tag, as well. — mkorcha, Mar 02 '15 at 01:43

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 02 '15 at 01:44

0

I think in your case it is more convenient to work with objects, and answers save in array, then you can have any number answers
use simple-xml

answered Mar 02 '15 at 01:44

gadfil

417
4
13

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '15 at 10:29

MyQs is a global array in my case.
How to get the questions from the XML (this case stored in array).. if you need a none allocated try an ArrayList.

 public void getQuestionsfromXML() throws XmlPullParserException,
            IOException {
        String tagname = " ";
        XmlResourceParser xpp = getResources().getXml(R.xml.trivia);

        if (xpp == null) {

        } else {
            xpp.next();
            int eventType = xpp.getEventType();
            while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
                if (eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
                    tagname = xpp.getName();
                } else if (eventType == XmlPullParser.TEXT) {
                    setNextQuestion(tagname, xpp.getText());

                }
                eventType = xpp.next();

            }
        }
    }

 public void setNextQuestion(String tagname, String textin) {

        if (tagname.equals("question")) {
            myQs[myQsindex] = new myQuestion();
            myQs[myQsindex].Question = textin;

        }
        if (tagname.equals("answer1")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].Answer1 = textin;

        }
        if (tagname.equals("answer2")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].Answer2 = textin;

        }
        if (tagname.equals("answer3")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].Answer3 = textin;

        }
        if (tagname.equals("answer4")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].Answer4 = textin;

        }
        if (tagname.equals("correctanswer")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].correctAnswer = textin;

        }

        if (tagname.equals("comment")) {
            myQs[myQsindex].comment = textin;
            msg = "question-> " + myQs[myQsindex].Question + "\n" + "Answer:     " + myQs[myQsindex].correctAnswer + "Index: " + myQsindex;

            if (TotalNumberofQs < maxQs)// precaution here
            {
                myQsindex++;
                TotalNumberofQs++;
            }
        }

Displaying it is obviously much more code but the basic idea is
take the following code and use it to update the question whenever needed.

    private void displayQuestion() {
            //Text View
            question.setText(myQs[myQsindex].Question);

            //Text View Radio buttons
            Answer1.setText(myQs[myQsindex].Answer1);
            Answer2.setText(myQs[myQsindex].Answer2);
            Answer3.setText(myQs[myQsindex].Answer3);
            Answer4.setText(myQs[myQsindex].Answer4);
            correctAnswer = myQs[myQsindex].correctAnswer;
    }

How do I parse and display things from an XML in an Android application?

2 Answers2