Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.io.IOException; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import org.w3c.dom.NodeList; public class Main { private static Element findElement(Element root, String tag) throws IOException { NodeList elements = root.getElementsByTagName(tag); if (elements.getLength() == 0) { throw new IOException("Tag " + tag + " was expected and not found."); } else if (elements.getLength() != 1) { throw new IOException("Tag " + tag + " cannot have multiple definitions."); } return (Element) elements.item(0); } }