How to I output org.w3c.dom.Element to string format in java?

Question

I have an org.w3c.dom.Element object passed into my method. I need to see the whole xml string including its child nodes (the whole object graph). I am looking

Answer 1

Assuming you want to stick with the standard API...

You could use a DOMImplementationLS:

Document document = node.getOwnerDocument();
DOMImplementationLS domImplLS = (DOMImplementationLS) document
    .getImplementation();
LSSerializer serializer = domImplLS.createLSSerializer();
String str = serializer.writeToString(node);

If the declaration bothers you, you could use a transformer instead:

TransformerFactory transFactory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
Transformer transformer = transFactory.newTransformer();
StringWriter buffer = new StringWriter();
transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.OMIT_XML_DECLARATION, "yes");
transformer.transform(new DOMSource(node),
      new StreamResult(buffer));
String str = buffer.toString();