How can I create a self closing tag using JDOM

Question

I could find in Jdom api any function to create self closing xml tag like the <selfClosingTag /> below.

For example, I need to create the following content:

<parentTag>
  <selfClosingTag />
  <firstChild>......    </firstChild>
  <secondChild>......    </secondChild>
</parentTag>

Can someone please tell me how. Please tell me I should not do it because this kind of self-closing tag is required in mathml document.

Thanks, Chepukha

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '10 at 22:15

4

Any element you create, that you don't add any child nodes to, will be empty. An empty element can be represented as <element/> or <element></element>. Which one shouldn't really matter.

answered Aug 16 '10 at 22:15

mwittrock

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Great! Thanks Json for the link and mwittrock for the explanation. – chepukha Aug 17 '10 at 04:56
IMHO: It matters at the moment you need to deal with really big XML file full of empty elements. – sourcerebels Aug 17 '10 at 06:05

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 16 '10 at 22:20

2

It seems like modifying your XMLOutputter like this should do the trick:

outputter.setFormat(outputter.getFormat().setExpandEmptyElements(false));

See the javadoc for setExpandEmptyElements.

answered Aug 16 '10 at 22:20

Jason Orendorff

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How can I create a self closing tag using JDOM

2 Answers2