XMLReader versus SAXParser

[Kevin Newsom]

I have a series of SAX2 applications that use the constructor SAXParser() to create an instance of the parser.
XMLReader reader = new SAXParser();
These applications work fine.
The O'Reilly book on Java and XML indicates that this class (SAXParser) implements the org.xml.sax.XMLReader interface (pg. 50). If I change my code to use XMLReader instead of SAXParser, I get a ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser.
Here's the code line that changed:
XMLReader parser = XMLReaderFactory.createXMLReader(
"org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser");
Can anyone explain to me why? This problem is also causing me troubles when trying to use Xalan.

[Kevin Newsom]

I'm touching this in the hopes of someone seeing it at the top of the list. I'm really stumped on this problem.

[Ajith Kallambella]

Does it work if you use SAXParserFactory.newSAXParser() ??

[Kevin Newsom]

Well, I got this to work by implanting the code from XMLReaderFactory into my parsing class. In particular the line:
return (XMLReader)(Class.forName(className).newInstance());
doesn't throw a class not found exception when it is within 'my' class that parses the document.
I still don't know why it wouldn't work before.
I still think I have a problem when using Xalan but we'll see.

[Kevin Newsom]

I got it working in the manner that it should. I had to place the appropriate jar files in the lib/ext folder. Having them in the class path didn't seem to cut it.