Parse XML and show it in TextView

Question

I am making a quiz application. For the MCQ questions I have an XML, which I have parsed. This is the XML:

<quiz>
<mchoice>
<question>Not a team sport for sure</question>
<id>1</id>
<option1>Cricket</option1>
<option2>Tennis</option2>
<option3>Rugby</option3>
<option4>Soccer</option4>
<answer>Tennis</answer>
</mchoice>
<mchoice>
<question>I am the biggest planet in the Solar System</question>
<id>2</id>
<option1>Saturn</option1>
<option2>Jupiter</option2>
<option3>Neptune</option3>
<option4>Pluto</option4>
<answer>Jupiter</answer>
</mchoice>
<mchoice>
<question>I am the closest star to the earth</question>
<id>3</id>
<option1>Milky way</option1>
<option2>Moon</option2>
<option3>Sun</option3>
<option4>North Star</option4>
<answer>Sun</answer>
</mchoice>
<mchoice>
<question>A number which is not prime</question>
<id>4</id>
<option1>31</option1>
<option2>61</option2>
<option3>71</option3>
<option4>91</option4>
<answer>91</answer>
</mchoice>
<mchoice>
<question>Which is correct?</question>
<id>5</id>
<option1>Foreine</option1>
<option2>Fariegn</option2>
<option3>Foreig</option3>
<option4>Foreign</option4>
<answer>Foreign</answer>
</mchoice>
</quiz>

This is the XML Parser class which I have used:

public class XMLParser {

    // constructor
    public XMLParser() {

    }

    /**
     * Getting XML from URL making HTTP request
     * @param url string
     * */
    public String getXmlFromUrl(String url) {
        String xml = null;

        try {
            // defaultHttpClient
            DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(url);

            HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost);
            HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity();
            xml = EntityUtils.toString(httpEntity);

        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        // return XML
        return xml;
    }

    /**
     * Getting XML DOM element
     * @param XML string
     * */
    public Document getDomElement(String xml){
        Document doc = null;
        DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
        try {

            DocumentBuilder db = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();

            InputSource is = new InputSource();
                is.setCharacterStream(new StringReader(xml));
                doc = db.parse(is); 

            } catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {
                Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
                return null;
            } catch (SAXException e) {
                Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
                return null;
            } catch (IOException e) {
                Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
                return null;
            }

            return doc;
    }

    /** Getting node value
      * @param elem element
      */
     public final String getElementValue( Node elem ) {
         Node child;
         if( elem != null){
             if (elem.hasChildNodes()){
                 for( child = elem.getFirstChild(); child != null; child = child.getNextSibling() ){
                     if( child.getNodeType() == Node.TEXT_NODE  ){
                         return child.getNodeValue();
                     }
                 }
             }
         }
         return "";
     }

     /**
      * Getting node value
      * @param Element node
      * @param key string
      * */
     public String getValue(Element item, String str) {     
            NodeList n = item.getElementsByTagName(str);        
            return this.getElementValue(n.item(0));
        }
}

This is the activity from which I am calling the XML parser Class and adding the parsed data into an Arraylist having hashMap inside it:

// All static variables
    static final String URL = "http://gujaratimandal.org/data.xml";
    // XML node keys
    static final String KEY_MCHOICE = "mchoice"; // parent node
    static final String KEY_QUESTION = "question";
    static final String KEY_ID = "id";
    static final String KEY_OPTION1 = "option1";
    static final String KEY_OPTION2 = "option2";
    static final String KEY_OPTION3 = "option3";
    static final String KEY_OPTION4 = "option4";
    static final String KEY_ANSWER = "answer";
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);



        ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> menuItems = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();

        XMLParser parser = new XMLParser();
        String xml = parser.getXmlFromUrl(URL); // getting XML
        Document doc = parser.getDomElement(xml); // getting DOM element

        NodeList nl = doc.getElementsByTagName(KEY_MCHOICE);
        // looping through all item nodes <item>
        for (int i = 0; i < nl.getLength(); i++) {
            // creating new HashMap
            HashMap<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();
            Element e = (Element) nl.item(i);
            // adding each child node to HashMap key => value
            map.put(KEY_MCHOICE, parser.getValue(e, KEY_MCHOICE));
            map.put(KEY_ID, parser.getValue(e, KEY_ID));
            map.put(KEY_QUESTION, parser.getValue(e, KEY_QUESTION));
            //map.put(KEY_QUESTION, parser.getValue(e, KEY_QUESTION));

            map.put(KEY_OPTION1, parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION1));
            map.put(KEY_OPTION2, parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION2));
            map.put(KEY_OPTION3, parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION3));
            map.put(KEY_OPTION4, parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION4));
            map.put(KEY_ANSWER,  parser.getValue(e, KEY_ANSWER));
            // adding HashList to ArrayList
            menuItems.add(map);


            for (HashMap.Entry<String, String> entry : map.entrySet()) {
                String display_id=entry.getKey();
                String display_question = entry.getValue();
               makeAToast( ""+display_id+":"+ display_question);

            }


        }

         makeAToast(""+menuItems.size());
}

     public void makeAToast(String str) {

            Toast toast = Toast.makeText(this,str, Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
            toast.setGravity(Gravity.BOTTOM, 0, 0);
            toast.setDuration(1000000);
            toast.show();
        }

The problem is that, the data is getting retrieved but not in the desired way.

I want to retrieve the data in the following format:

Such that I can populate these TextViews with the data from every question:

What should I do?

Answer 1

make one string in you public class activity

String keyoption,keyoption2,name;

and

for (int i = 0; i < nl.getLength(); i++) {

    HashMap<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();
    Element e = (Element) nl.item(i);

    keyoption = parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION1);
    keyoption2 = parser.getValue(e, KEY_OPTION2);

    map.put(KEY_OPTION1, keyoption);
    map.put(KEY_OPTION2, keyoption2);
}

name.setText(keyoption);

Answer 2

Create an xml file for the layout like that you mentioned.

Its simple.

1. Create a LinearLayout as the root of your xml. (this is anyways the default) android:gravity="center"

2. Looks like you need 5 textViews inside the LinearLayout. One for the question. 4 for your options. all of them with android:gravity="center_horizontal"

3. One EditText in the end for the answer.