XML no output. probably ridiculous question

[ivansla]

Ok guys, I have been tryin to figure out what's wrong for several hours now, and I'm really desperate. This is probably stupid question but, why doesn't my application show node value? The output is null.

this is xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<characters>
	<character value='a' />
</characters>

this is application code:

try {
			File file = new File("Characters.xml");
			DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
			DocumentBuilder db = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
			Document doc = db.parse(file);
			doc.getDocumentElement().normalize();
			System.out.println("Root element " + doc.getDocumentElement().getNodeName());
			//System.out.println("Childs: " + doc.getDocumentElement().getChildNodes().getLength());
			NodeList nodeList = doc.getElementsByTagName("character");
			//System.out.println(nodeList.getLength());
			//System.out.println("Information of all characters");

			 for (int s = 0; s < nodeList.getLength(); s++) {
			
			
			 Node node = nodeList.item(s);
			 System.out.println("Character: " + node.getNodeValue());
			 }

			
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

I'm feeling really ashamed to ask this question, but like I said I'm desperate. There is probably something I'm overlooking.
If this isn't the correct code, than how do I get value from "value" attribute

Tnx for your answers.

[Fubarable]

Have you tried getting the node's attributes and then extracting the information from them:

         for (int s = 0; s < nodeList.getLength(); s++) {

            Node node = nodeList.item(s);
            //System.out.println("Character: " + node.getNodeValue());
            NamedNodeMap nodeMap = node.getAttributes();
            for (int i = 0; i < nodeMap.getLength(); i++) {
               Node nodeMapNode = nodeMap.item(i);
               System.out.printf("%s: %s%n", nodeMapNode.getNodeName(), nodeMapNode.getNodeValue());
            }
         }

[ivansla]

Hey thanks man. I tried what you suggested and it works.
But still, I wonder why it didn't work in the first place.

Once again thanks.

[Fubarable]

Hey thanks man. I tried what you suggested and it works.

You're welcome.

But still, I wonder why it didn't work in the first place.

What do you feel is the value of this node: <character value='a' />? This gets to the core difference between a value and an attribute.