StAX Factory Classes

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SING

Using StAX

In general, StAX programmers create XML stream readers, writers, and events
by using the

XMLInputFactory

XMLOutputFactory

and

XMLEventFactory

classes. Configuration is done by setting properties on the factories, whereby
implementation-specific settings can be passed to the underlying implementation
using the

setProperty()

method on the factories. Similarly, implementation-

specific settings can be queried using the

getProperty()

factory method.

The

XMLInputFactory

XMLOutputFactory

and

XMLEventFactory

classes are

described below, followed by discussions of resource allocation, namespace and
attribute management, error handling, and then finally reading and writing
streams using the cursor and iterator APIs.

StAX Factory Classes

XMLInputFactory

The

XMLInputFactory

class lets you configure implementation instances of

XML stream reader processors created by the factory. New instances of the
abstract class

XMLInputFactory

are created by calling the

newInstance()

method on the class. The static method

XMLInputFactory.newInstance()

then used to create a new factory instance.

Deriving from JAXP, the

XMLInputFactory.newInstance()

method deter-

mines the specific

XMLInputFactory

implementation class to load by using the

following lookup procedure:

1. Use the

javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory

system property.

2. Use the

lib/xml.stream.properties

file in the JRE directory.

3. Use the Services API, if available, to determine the classname by looking

in the

META-INF/services/javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory

files

in jars available to the JRE.

4. Use the platform default

XMLInputFactory

instance.

After getting a reference to an appropriate XMLInputFactory, an application can
use the factory to configure and create stream instances. Table 44 lists the prop-