XMLToString.java

/*
 *  This file is part of INDI for Java.
 * 
 *  INDI for Java is free software: you can redistribute it
 *  and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License 
 *  as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of 
 *  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 *  INDI for Java is distributed in the hope that it will be
 *  useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty
 *  of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *  GNU General Public License for more details.
 * 
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 *  along with INDI for Java.  If not, see 
 *  <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
package laazotea.indi;

import java.io.StringWriter;
import javax.xml.transform.OutputKeys;
import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;

/**
 * A class to transforms XML Elements into Strings.
 *
 * @author S. Alonso (Zerjillo) [zerjioi at ugr.es]
 * @version 1.34, November 8, 2013
 */
public class XMLToString {

  /**
   * Transforms a XML Element into a String.
   *
   * @param xml The XML Element
   * @return A String representing the XML Element
   */
  public static String transform(Element xml) {
    try {
      TransformerFactory transFactory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();

      Transformer transformer = transFactory.newTransformer();

      StringWriter buffer = new StringWriter();
      transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.OMIT_XML_DECLARATION, "yes");
      transformer.transform(new DOMSource(xml),
              new StreamResult(buffer));
      String str = buffer.toString();
      return str;
    } catch (Exception e) {
    }

    return "";
  }
}