Does anybody have experience with JDOM?

[Ted Gress]

Hi,

I'm having some trouble with JDOM2. I want to serialize my tree and I go to add the first root element and it says its already added to the document, but it's a new document I'm adding it to.

Code:

		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		doc.addContent(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		
		for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}

And my stack trace:

187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: LevelRoot
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The element "LevelRoot" could not be added as the root of the document: The Content already has an existing parent document
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:208)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdom2.Document.addContent(Document.java:320)
	at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:238)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
	at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)

[Paul Clapham]

Shouldn't that be

root_element.addContent(child.xmlData);

?

[Ted Gress]

Not sure. Can you expand?


Do you mean this:

for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
{
    //save xml
    CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
    doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
    RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
}

should be this:

for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
{
    //save xml
    CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
    root_element.addContent(child.xmlData);
    RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
}

??

[Paul Clapham]

Ted Gress wrote:... I go to add the first root element...

But an XML document can only have one root element. That's why I was expecting that you would be wanting to add the subsequent data as children of the root element, rather than adding them to the document (which can't be done, as the error message says).

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:Hi,

I'm having some trouble with JDOM2. I want to serialize my tree and I go to add the first root element and it says its already added to the document, but it's a new document I'm adding it to.

Code:

		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		doc.addContent(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		
		for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}

And my stack trace:

187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: LevelRoot
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The element "LevelRoot" could not be added as the root of the document: The Content already has an existing parent document
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:208)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdom2.Document.addContent(Document.java:320)
	at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:238)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
	at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)

What the error is telling you is the element you tried to add to the root ALREADY is the child of some root. The error line numbers don't correspond to the line umbers on your post (obviously) and the element it refers to is not in yuour code and your code is just a snippet with custom objects we don't know the definition to so it's hard to say more.

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:Hi,

I'm having some trouble with JDOM2. I want to serialize my tree and I go to add the first root element and it says its already added to the document, but it's a new document I'm adding it to.

Code:

		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		doc.addContent(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		
		for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}

And my stack trace:

187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: LevelRoot
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The element "LevelRoot" could not be added as the root of the document: The Content already has an existing parent document
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:208)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdom2.Document.addContent(Document.java:320)
	at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:238)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
	at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)

LOL my useful reply in the previous post got caught within the code element of your post. It appears as line 16.. lol..

is there some way to re-edit a post you've made?

[Paul Clapham]

David, I've edited your first reply.

[Paul Clapham]

Just to clarify, Ted: you have a SceneGraphManager object which represents a tree structure, and you want to duplicate that structure (and its contents) as a JDOM tree. Is that what you meant by "serialize my tree"?

[Ted Gress]

Hi Paul,

Ok. To clarify I have a SceneGraph class which contains a tree of SceneGraph Nodes. Each node has a xmlData attribute, which is of the Element class.

When I mean serialize, I want to walk through that tree and for every node add its xmlData attribute it to an XML document in the same hierarchy as the tree.

I'm not sure if this is clear or not.

So let's say I have a scene graph like this:

<levelroot>
                       <playercharacter>Some information<playercharacter/>
</levelroot>

I want to write that xml to an xml document, preserving the hierarchy with levelroot being the root tag.
Does that make sense?
                         

[Ted Gress]

With levelroot being the root tag. Sorry, forgot to mention.

So the first xml element  would be <levelroot>. But when I try to add <levelroot> as the first tag in the xml doc, it throws the error above.

[Paul Clapham]

When I looked for information about JDOM root elements, I came across a book chapter which said this:

Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:In this case the document begins its life in a temporarily malformed state, and any attempt to do almost anything with it except set a root element or add content to the document’s prolog will fail

The code in the example looks like this:

  Document doc = new Document();
  Element root = new Element("GREETING");
  root.setText("Hello JDOM!");
  doc.setRootElement(root);

So I'd guess that calling the setRootElement would help. Alternatively there's this shortcut:

  Element root = new Element("GREETING");
  root.setText("Hello JDOM!");
  Document doc = new Document(root);

[Paul Clapham]

There's also the API documentation which says the same thing.

[Ted Gress]

Same error as before:

		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		//doc.addContent(root_element);
		doc.setRootElement(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		

Error:
[codejava]
187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: LevelRoot
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The element "LevelRoot" could not be added as the root of the document: The Content already has an existing parent document
at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:208)
at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
at org.jdom2.Document.setRootElement(Document.java:238)
at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:239)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)
[/code]

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:Same error as before:

		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		//doc.addContent(root_element);
		doc.setRootElement(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		

Error:
[codejava]
187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: LevelRoot
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The element "LevelRoot" could not be added as the root of the document: The Content already has an existing parent document
at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:208)
at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
at org.jdom2.Document.setRootElement(Document.java:238)
at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:239)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)
[/code]

Sorry to repeat myself; my post got lost inside the quote tag, perhaps no one saw it (or I am just off and people are being polite !) .

It really seems to me that this is telling you that the element "LevelRoot" is already a part of a Document ( a Node can't be the child of two documents). Is there any way that that is possible? "In that case the Content" in the message is LevelRoot or isome part of it. So yo're trying to add it here :

doc.setRootElement(root_element);

but root_element (where ever it is coming from) has not yet been severed from some other Tree.

OK I won't comment again LOL !!

[Paul Clapham]

David Simkulette wrote:It really seems to me that this is telling you that the element "LevelRoot" is already a part of a Document ( a Node can't be the child of two documents). Is there any way that that is possible?

Yes, now that I read the error message more carefully, that is just what it is telling you. And we know that the LevelRoot is part of the SceneGraphManager, which must surely be a JDOM Document otherwise its Elements would be incompatible with JDOM, so not only is it possible, it is a fact.

I guess the solution would be to create a new Element from the LevelRoot instead of using the LevelRoot itself as an Element.

[Ted Gress]

So, LevelRoot is not part of any other document. To make sure it isn't I changed the code to the following:

public static void Serialize()
	{
		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		//Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		Element root_element = new Element("RootOne");
		
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		//doc.addContent(root_element);
		doc.setRootElement(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		
		for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}
	}

You'll notice that I'm creating a brand new Element, setting its text to "RootOne" and trying to add it to the new Document. It still returns the following LevelRoot error:

189 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing element: FirstPersonPlayerCharacterService
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The Content already has an existing parent "LevelRoot"
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:211)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdom2.Document.addContent(Document.java:320)
	at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:250)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
	at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)

The XML file for which this references is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<LevelRoot>

	<FirstPersonPlayerCharacterService>
		<WSFirstPersonPlayerCharacter startx="0.0" starty="0.0" startz="0.0" />
		<CameraService>
		<WSCameraObject startx="0.0" starty="0.0" startz="0" />
		</CameraService>
	</FirstPersonPlayerCharacterService>		

	<PointLightService>
		<WSPointLight startx="-2.0" starty="0.0" startz="2.0" />
	</PointLightService>
	
	<BoxService>
		<WSBox p_min="-1.0" p_max="1.0" />
	</BoxService>
	
	<DaemonArmsService>
		<WSDaemonArms str_requirement="60" defend_chance="50" defense="0" />
	</DaemonArmsService>
	
	<DaemonBoneService>
		<WSDaemonBone />
	</DaemonBoneService>
		
	<DaemonChestService>
		<WSDaemonChest />
	</DaemonChestService>	
		
	<DaemonGlovesService>
		<WSDaemonGloves />
	</DaemonGlovesService>
	
	<DaemonHelmService>
		<WSDaemonHelmService />
	</DaemonHelmService>
	
	<DaemonLegService>
		<WSDaemonLegService />
	</DaemonLegService>

</LevelRoot>

[Ted Gress]

Actually, you know what, it is adding RootOne. Its the next node down that it gives that LevelRoot error again. Here is the full output:

187 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing root element: RootOne
188 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Root element serialized 
189 In Class::class GameMap.XMLAdapter Journal Entry:Serializing element: FirstPersonPlayerCharacterService
Exception in thread "Thread-8" org.jdom2.IllegalAddException: The Content already has an existing parent "LevelRoot"
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.checkPreConditions(ContentList.java:211)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:244)
	at org.jdom2.ContentList.add(ContentList.java:79)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.add(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdom2.Document.addContent(Document.java:320)
	at GameMap.XMLAdapter.Serialize(XMLAdapter.java:250)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.Serialize(CHotLoader.java:206)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadNMap(CHotLoader.java:132)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.loadMap(CHotLoader.java:115)
	at GameMap.CHotLoader.HotLoad(CHotLoader.java:84)
	at MainGame.Loop.run(Loop.java:29)

[Ted Gress]

Ok. Sorry ahead of time this is going to be a long post. I use a local document object to load in the XML data before it gets altered in anyway. Then I use a serialize function later on, with a newlocal document object to write out to an xml file. Does it matter that I use two document objects if they are local to the methods? Here is the long part. This is my XMLAdapter class.

public class XMLAdapter {

	
	public void adapt(String filename)
	{
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Running XML Adapter: adapt()");
		
    
        // Build the document with SAX and Xerces, no validation
        SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
        // Create the document
        File file = new File(filename);
        Document doc = null;
		try {
			doc = (Document) builder.build(file);
		} catch (JDOMException e2) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e2.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e2) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e2.printStackTrace();
		}
        
        
        
        
        DocType docType = doc.getDocType();
        
       // Element levelRoot = doc.getRootElement();
       
        //Element root = new Element("LevelRoot");
        
        //doc.setRootElement(root);
        
        Element element = doc.getRootElement();
       

        CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Document Root Element is: " + doc.getRootElement().getName());
        
        
        CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Output");
        // Output the document, use standard formatter
        XMLOutputter fmt = new XMLOutputter();
        try {
			fmt.output(doc, System.out);
		} catch (IOException e1) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e1.printStackTrace();
		}
        
        List<Element> children = element.getChildren();
        
        System.out.println("Number of children:" + children.size());
        
        
        
      
        //doc has no content for some reason
        try {
			fmt.output(doc, System.out);
		} catch (IOException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
        
     // Get a List of all direct children as Element objects
        //List allChildren = element.getChildren();
        //System.out.println("First kid: " + ((Element)allChildren.get(0)).getName());
        // Get a list of all direct children with a given name
        //List namedChildren = element.getChildren("WSFirstPersonPlayerCharacter");
        // Get a list of the first kid with a given name
        Element kid = element.getChild("FirstPersonPlayerCharacterService");

        //wrong - has no text to output
       // CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "KID" + kid.getText());
        
        
        
        CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "HasRootElement:" +  doc.hasRootElement());
        
        SceneGraphNode parent = new SceneGraphNode();

        //SceneGraphNode root = new SceneGraphNode();
        SceneGraphManager.root.xmlData = doc.getRootElement();
        SceneGraphManager.root.parent = null;
        XMLSceneLoader.addToSceneGraph(SceneGraphManager.root, null);
        parent = SceneGraphManager.root;
        
        //adds the first level of children to the scenegraph
        for (Element child : children)
        {
        	SceneGraphNode node = new SceneGraphNode();
        	node.xmlData = child;
        	node.parent = parent;
        	parent.children.add(node);
        	CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Initial Function, XML Child: " + child.getName());
        	
         	XMLSceneLoader.addToSceneGraph(node, parent);
        	//SceneGraph.SceneGraphManager.add(node, null);
        	parent = node;
         	recursiveAdd(child.getChildren(), child, parent);
        	
        }
        
        
	}
	public void recursiveAdd(List<Element> children, Element parent, SceneGraphNode prnt)
	{
	      for (Element child : children)
	        {
	    	    SceneGraphNode node = new SceneGraphNode();
	    	    node.xmlData = child;
	    	    node.parent = prnt;
	    	    CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Recursive Function, XML Child: " + child.getName());
	        	
	        	
	        	//SceneGraph.SceneGraphManager.add(node, null);
	        	XMLSceneLoader.addToSceneGraph(node, node.parent);
	        	
	        	prnt = node;
	        	recursiveAdd(child.getChildren(), child, prnt);
	        	return;
	        }
	}
	
	
	public static void Serialize()
	{
		SceneGraphNode root = SceneGraphManager.root;
		
		//Element root_element = root.xmlData;
		
		Element root_element = new Element("RootOne");
		
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing root element: " + root_element.getName());
		
		Document doc = new Document();
		
		//doc.addContent(root_element);
		doc.setRootElement(root_element);
		
		CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Root element serialized ");
		
		for (SceneGraphNode child: root.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}
	}
	
	public static void RecursiveSerialize(SceneGraphNode parent, Document doc)
	{
		for (SceneGraphNode child: parent.children)
		{
			//save xml
			CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Serializing element: " + child.xmlData.getName());
			doc.addContent(child.xmlData);
			RecursiveSerialize(child, doc);
		}
		
		FileOutputStream out = null;
		
		try {
			out = new FileOutputStream(new File("demo_output.xml"));
		}
		
		catch (FileNotFoundException e)
		{
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
		
		catch (IOException o)
		{
			o.printStackTrace();
		}
		
		
		XMLOutputter serializer = new XMLOutputter();
		try {
			serializer.output(doc, out);
		}
		catch (IOException o)
		{
			o.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
		
	
	
	
}

[Paul Clapham]

Ted Gress wrote:Actually, you know what, it is adding RootOne. Its the next node down that it gives that LevelRoot error again.

Yeah, same thing. You have to add a copy of the element to the new tree.

[Paul Clapham]

I was confused from the start, when you described your act of copying an XML document to another XML document as "serializing". The meaning of the word "serialize" in the XML world is to transform an internal representation of XML (e.g. a SceneGraphManager or a JDOM Document) to an external representation (a text file). The opposite transformation is called "parsing".

So as a result I found your complete code very hard to read because I didn't understand what its purpose was. It unfortunately became TL;DR. So could you give us a short summary of the purpose of that code?

[Ted Gress]

Yeah, same thing. You have to add a copy of the element to the new tree

What do you mean a copy of the element to the new tree? Can you expand?

[Ted Gress]

I was confused from the start, when you described your act of copying an XML document to another XML document as "serializing". The meaning of the word "serialize" in the XML world is to transform an internal representation of XML (e.g. a SceneGraphManager or a JDOM Document) to an external representation (a text file). The opposite transformation is called "parsing".

So as a result I found your complete code very hard to read because I didn't understand what its purpose was. It unfortunately became TL;DR. So could you give us a short summary of the purpose of that code?

That's the thing. The goal is to export the scenegraph to an xml file. So I am essentially serializing the SceneGraph to a text (xml) file.
What is TL;DR?

The purpose of the code is to first load each XML tag into a scenegraph, for example I may have a root tag that says "<LevelRoot>" and then a tag that says "<Loot>" and then a tag that says "<DaemonArmor>" nested within. I want to load those tags into SceneGraphNodes, with each node containing an XML Element like, for example, "<DaemonArmoir>" or "<Loot>".
The SceneGraph should be an exact mirror of the XML document loaded in.

Then, in the same class, but with different functionality, I want to serialize that scenegraph  back to an XML  file, basically reversing the process. So, since "<LevelRoot>" is the root node it should be that way in the XML file I'm outputting. Then, using the previous example, I want the next XML tag to be "<Loot>" and the following tag nested to be "<DaemonArmor>". So it should take the nodes in the SceneGraph and output them in order to an XML file.

Does that clarify things?

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:

I was confused from the start, when you described your act of copying an XML document to another XML document as "serializing". The meaning of the word "serialize" in the XML world is to transform an internal representation of XML (e.g. a SceneGraphManager or a JDOM Document) to an external representation (a text file). The opposite transformation is called "parsing".

So as a result I found your complete code very hard to read because I didn't understand what its purpose was. It unfortunately became TL;DR. So could you give us a short summary of the purpose of that code?

That's the thing. The goal is to export the scenegraph to an xml file. So I am essentially serializing the SceneGraph to a text (xml) file.
What is TL;DR?

The purpose of the code is to first load each XML tag into a scenegraph, for example I may have a root tag that says "<LevelRoot>" and then a tag that says "<Loot>" and then a tag that says "<DaemonArmor>" nested within. I want to load those tags into SceneGraphNodes, with each node containing an XML Element like, for example, "<DaemonArmoir>" or "<Loot>".
The SceneGraph should be an exact mirror of the XML document loaded in.

Then, in the same class, but with different functionality, I want to serialize that scenegraph  back to an XML  file, basically reversing the process. So, since "<LevelRoot>" is the root node it should be that way in the XML file I'm outputting. Then, using the previous example, I want the next XML tag to be "<Loot>" and the following tag nested to be "<DaemonArmor>". So it should take the nodes in the SceneGraph and output them in order to an XML file.

Does that clarify things?

You need to write the simplest thing that could possibly work in the smallest way with the tiniest throw-away pretend test data imaginable. Then you can see if what you're doing is just fundamentally flawed in a way you were not previously aware of. You have a forest of potential problems; you need just a tree.

[Paul Clapham]

Ted Gress wrote:That's the thing. The goal is to export the scenegraph to an xml file. So I am essentially serializing the SceneGraph to a text (xml) file.

But you aren't serializing the SceneGraph to a text file. Not in the original code, anyway. You're copying it to (another) JDOM document instead.

It appears a SceneGraph already is a JDOM document. So you should just serialize it directly. Here's a book chapter about how to serialize a JDOM document.

What is TL;DR?

Too Long; Didn't Read.

[Ted Gress]

No, the SceneGraph is an object with nodes in it. Inside the nodes are xml data - elements. So I read in an xml document into the scenegraph, it is not an XML document itself. Then, later on, the scene graph is exported as an XML document. If TL;DR, then TL;DC - too long don't comment.

[Ted Gress]

Ok. I figured out my problem. I have to detach the elements before I add them to the new document.

So my issue is this: How do I read in an xml document, detach the elements so they are no longer associated with the document,
and then put them in another document to be exported.

Right now it is reading the elements into the scene graph, but there are other elements being loaded as well that aren't in the scene graph
but still show up on the output document. Thanks everyone for the help so far.

[Ted Gress]

The main thing is that there are certain elements in the original XML file that I don't want in the output XML file

[Paul Clapham]

I've posted a couple of links now to an online book which contains information about JDOM. I suspect that many of your questions are answered by that book.

[Ted Gress]

Ok  Thanks Paul I'll look into it

[Ted Gress]

Paul: I looked back at the posts and the only link I see is to the API. Could you post that link againhttps://coderanch.com/forums/topicBoost/boost/687492?

[Paul Clapham]

Here's the relevant chapter in the book: JDOM.

[Ted Gress]

Paul,

I read the chapter in the JDOM book. While interesting, I do not think it provides a solution to my problem.

Question: When an XML document is parsed into JDOM and it becomes a tree structure, say I want to transfer that tree to another JDOM document. How do I do that piece by piece.
So,

I have a JDOM tree object
I take each element and put it in my own tree structure, each node corresponding to an element in the JDOM tree object
Then I want to iterate over my own tree structure to create a new JDOM tree object.
Then I want to serialize the new JDOM tree structure.

I think that's right, that's what I want to do.

[Ted Gress]

Could somebody post some pseudo code or kind of explain how this process would work? I seem to be getting nowhere.

[Ted Gress]

I basically want to break down the JDOM2 tree that is loaded from the XML and build up a new Document for output

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:I basically want to break down the JDOM2 tree that is loaded from the XML and build up a new Document for output

Your problem has always been what I suggested above and what your error message was telling you . The Node is attached to some other tree. That's what that error message says.

You have to detach the node from the tree. Can you do the following?  Write a JDOM tree with one node. Detach that Node and attach it to another, empty JDOM tree? If you can't do that, if you can't get it to compile and  run that means  your whole approach is wrong and nothing based on it can possibly work. You may have to essentially use a copy constructor on the node's information to create a whole new node and attach that to a new JDOM tree.

[Paul Clapham]

A quick look at the JDOM API documentation reveals that the Element class has a detach() method...

[David Simkulette]

It pays huge dividends to learn to write the tiniest possible program you think could work.

Most programming confusion comes from

1) false or insufficient understanding of the language

2) false or insufficient knowledge of the APIs

3) burying your logic in huge mounds of code that act as the haystack when it comes time to find the needle of "what's going wrong?".  

Of those 3, the first two are cured with enough time and experience. The third gets worse with time (you wrote MORE code !) and experience (you're now addicted to, even proud of, your bad coding style).

It is generally where  bugs and mental anguish come from and where time goes to.

[Ted Gress]

Yes I saw the detach method and the removecontent methods...

 for (int i =0;i<children.size();i++)
        {
        	SceneGraphNode node = new SceneGraphNode();
        	Element child = children.get(i);
        	
        	
        	
        	node.xmlData = child;
        	node.parent = parent;
        	 	
        	recursiveAdd(child.getChildren(), child, parent);
        	
        	node.xmlData.detach();
        	node.xmlData.removeContent();
        	
        	
        	//parent.children.add(node);
        	CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Adding node, XML Child Name is: " + child.getName());
        	CJournal.Journal(XMLAdapter.class, "Node XML Data Value is: " + node.xmlData.getName());
        	XMLSceneLoader.addToSceneGraph(node, parent);
        	
         	

So I'm sending the children of the node to a recursive function to process them. Then the current node is detached, content is removed, and it is added to my scenegraph.
But it appears that the node is not being detached or the content is not being removed.

I'll try a small program as well.

-Ted

[Ted Gress]

David,

In this case I don't think I can write a tiny program. There are data structures that are linked to this and writing a tiny program to test the code would essentially force to me to rewrite the whole system just to test it.

For example, I would have to implement the scenegraph class. T he program is as small as it can be. Thanks for the advice though.

[David Simkulette]

Ted Gress wrote:David,

In this case I don't think I can write a tiny program.

Compilable and runnable:

import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;


public class JDomQuestion
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        JDomQuestion jDomQuestion = new JDomQuestion();
        jDomQuestion.doit();
    }

    private void doit()
    {
        Document fakeDocumentWithARoot = createFakeDocumentWithARoot();
        Document emptyFakeDocument = createEmptyFakeDocument();

        transferRootToEmptyDocument(fakeDocumentWithARoot, emptyFakeDocument);
    }

    private void transferRootToEmptyDocument(Document fakeDocumentWithARoot, Document emptyFakeDocument)
    {
        Element rootElement = fakeDocumentWithARoot.getRootElement();
        emptyFakeDocument.setRootElement(rootElement);                                          // Boom !  Here is your exact error.
    }

    private Document createEmptyFakeDocument()
    {
        return new Document();
    }

    private Document createFakeDocumentWithARoot()
    {
        Document fakeDocument = new Document();
        fakeDocument.setRootElement(new Element("My_name_is_Ozymandias_Root_of_Roots" +
                                              "Look_on_my_bug_ye_Mighty_and_despair."));

        return fakeDocument;
    }
}