The book
Processing XML with Java by Elliotte Rusty Harold is a good intro book, covering the various aspects of XML. There is a
free online version available to read. There some good samples in it on how to do exactly what you are asking. After reading it, you can then look at other books that get in more details about the various topics (SAX, DOM, XSLT, etc).
[ January 31, 2007: Message edited by: Mark Vedder ]