Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.util.ArrayList; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import org.w3c.dom.Node; import org.w3c.dom.NodeList; public class Main { public static String getTextElementValue(String elementName, Element parentElement, boolean showEmptyAsNull) { ArrayList<Node> childNodesWithTagName = getChildNodesWithTagName(elementName, parentElement); if (childNodesWithTagName.size() > 0) { Node childNode = childNodesWithTagName.get(0); String text = childNode.getFirstChild().getNodeValue().trim(); return text.equals("") && showEmptyAsNull ? null : text; } return null; } public static ArrayList<Node> getChildNodesWithTagName(String tagName, Element parentElement) { NodeList childNodes = parentElement.getChildNodes(); ArrayList<Node> childNodesWithTagName = new ArrayList<Node>(); for (int i = 0; i < childNodes.getLength(); i++) { Node childNode = childNodes.item(i); if (childNode.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE && childNode.getNodeName().equals(tagName)) { childNodesWithTagName.add(childNode); } } return childNodesWithTagName; } }