CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaxmlparsing
Ahmad
Ahmad

Reputation: 72533

Accessing a xml file and updating it in Java

Is it possible to write a little Javaa program which parses a xml file from my web hosting site and updates this file? Or is there a better alternative to do so? I have to update the file every 10 min with about 10 lines of code each, so I don't want to write it out every time.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 246

Answers (2)

Julian
Julian

Reputation: 1542

I would investigate running this code on your server. What is the update? Does it use data not on your server? You can do this easily in Java but more detail is needed for a better answer.

OK, your idea is fine if your web hosting lets you do http PUT you can get the file using GET, modify it, e.g. using the DOM, and PUT it back. You might prefer to do more server side scripting and write the update at that end, it lets you use relational databases instead of flat files for example. In this case, writing a server side script to accept a POST as the other answer suggested is a good idea.

I've put a little example for you here: http://jcable.users.sourceforge.net/scores.php

There are three files on this website:

scores - a text file that gets updated. scores.php - a script that shows the current score add.php - a script that updates the current score.

scores.php looks like this:

<html>
 <body>
  The current score is <?php readfile("scores"); ?>
 </body>
</html>

add.php looks like this:

<?php
if(isset($_POST["score"])) {
  $fh = fopen("scores", 'w') or die("can't open file");
  fwrite($fh, $_POST["score"]);
  fclose($fh);
}
else
{
?>
<HTML>
<BODY>
<FORM action="add.php" method="POST">
New Score: <INPUT type="text" name="score"/>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
<?php

} ?>

if you get add.php it will present you the form. But if your program calls it as a post it won't bother. Hope this gives you some ideas - its the simplest possible web app I can think of that has persistent server side data. You can add complexity - xml or json, etc., but the principles are there.

Upvotes: 0

AlexR
AlexR

Reputation: 115328

You can write little java program. BTW you can write a bigger one two :). You can write program using any language you want. Including Java. The program written in any language can parse XML.

Well, now we arrived to the problem. What do you mean when you say that you wish to parse XML from the web site? Does your web site provides URL that allows to download the XML? In this case you can download it (e.g. using HTTP GET method) and parse.

The next problem is how to update the XML on the site. You have to provide such functionality on site itself (e.g. implement service that is able to receive the XML and store it. For example via HTTP GET.

Once you are done you can write truly little java program that downloads the file using HTTP GET, parses it, creates new one and the sends it back to the site using HTTP POST.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions