Removing a node from a XML File in Java

Question

I have an XML file that is formatted like this:

<state>
  <image>
      <imageUrl>./testImages/testimage.png</imageUrl>
      <perspective id="0">
          <zoomLevel>1.0</zoomLevel>
          <offsetX>0.0</offsetX>
          <offsetY>0.0</offsetY>
      </perspective>
      <perspective id="1">
          <zoomLevel>1.0</zoomLevel>
          <offsetX>0.0</offsetX>
          <offsetY>0.0</offsetY>
      </perspective>
  </image>
</state>

In that file, I have multiple image nodes, but that is not the point. What I'd like is to be able to remove the < image > node (and all its child nodes)from the document.

I have the following code so far:

private void updateImageElement(Element image, Model model) throws SAXException, IOException, ParserConfigurationException{
    Element rootElement = doc.getDocumentElement();

    rootElement.removeChild(image);
    image.getParentNode().removeChild(image);
}

The "rootElement.removeChild(image);" line throws the following exception:

org.w3c.dom.DOMException: NOT_FOUND_ERR: An attempt is made to reference a node in a context where it does not exist.

Which is weird, because if I print "rootElement", it displays "state", which IS image's parent node.

I then tried the following line ("image.getParentNode().removeChild(image)). This one doesn't throw an Exception, but nothing is removed either.

If I print that line, it also says the parent node is "state, so I can't even figure out what the difference between the two lines is.

Can you produce a short but complete program (ideally a console app) which demonstrates the problem? — Jon Skeet
– Jon Skeet, Commented Dec 12, 2012 at 16:20
@Jon Skeet I'll keep that in mind next time, I thought this snippet was enough to show the problem, but Ted Hopp's answer proved otherwise since my error wasn't in it. Thanks anyway! — Jumbala
– Jumbala, Commented Dec 12, 2012 at 16:25

Ted Hopp · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-12 16:20:53Z

2

It sounds like you are working with two copies of the DOM for that document, and that doc is for one copy and image is from the other. You don't show the code that is responsible for setting doc and image, but you need to make sure that they are from the same node tree.

answered Dec 12, 2012 at 16:20

Ted Hopp

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1 Comment

Jumbala Over a year ago

You are correct. I forgot to change the reference back to the same document after some testing. Thanks a lot

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