Previously, we learn about SAX parser in Android. Now we see how to use XmlPullParser in Android.

There are three types of Android XML parsers – DOM, SAX and XmlPullParser. You can use DOM and SAX parser API which are provided by Java platform. In addition to these two parsers, Android provides XmlPullParser which is similar to StAX parser and is also the recommended XML parsing in Android. This Android XML parsing example explains how to parse a simple XML using Android XmlPullParser.

Android recommends to use XmlPullParser to parse the xml file than SAX and DOM because it is fast.

The org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser interface provides the functionality to parse the XML document using XmlPullParser.

1. Create an Android Project

2. Add xml file inside assets folder and add following code

<?xml version="1.0"   encoding="UTF-8"?>
<employees>
    <employee>
        <id>1</id>
        <name>Adney</name>
        <salary>50000</salary>      
    </employee>
    <employee>
        <id>2</id>
        <name>Kaarle</name>
        <salary>60000</salary>  
    </employee>
     <employee>
        <id>3</id>
        <name>Mike</name>
        <salary>60000</salary>  
    </employee>
</employees>

3. Add listview in activity_main.xml 

    <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >
 
    <ListView
          android:id="@+id/listView1"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"   >
    </ListView>
 
</RelativeLayout>

 Add been class as name Employee

package com.example.xmlpullparsing;
 
// Been class of list
public class Employee {
     private int id;
     private String name;
     private String salary;
 
     public int getId() {
           return id;
     }
 
     public void setId(int id) {
           this.id = id;
     }
 
     public String getName() {
           return name;
     }
 
     public void setName(String name) {
           this.name = name;
     }
 
     public String getSalary() {
           return salary;
     }
 
     public void setSalary(String salary) {
           this.salary = salary;
     }
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
           return "\n  Name= " + name + "\n Salary= " + salary;
     }
}

Create XmlPullParserHandler class which parse data from xml file

package com.example.xmlpullparsing;
 
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
import  org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
import  org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserFactory;
 
public class XmlPullParserHandler {
     private List<Employee> employees = new ArrayList<Employee>();
     private Employee employee;
     private String text;
 
     public List<Employee>  getEmployees() {
           return employees;
     }
 
     public List<Employee> parse(InputStream is) {
           try {
                // XmlPullParserFactory class is used to create implementations of
                // XML Pull Parser defined in XMPULL V1 API.
                XmlPullParserFactory factory = XmlPullParserFactory.newInstance();
                // setNamespaceAware specifies that the parser produced by this
                // factory will provide
                // support for XML namespaces.
                factory.setNamespaceAware(true);
                // Creates a new instance of a XML Pull Parser using the currently
                // configured factory features.
                XmlPullParser parser = factory.newPullParser();
 
                parser.setInput(is, null);
 
                int eventType = parser.getEventType();
                while (eventType != XmlPullParser.END_DOCUMENT) {
                     String tagname = parser.getName();
                     switch (eventType) {
                     case XmlPullParser.START_TAG:
                           if (tagname.equalsIgnoreCase("employee")) {
                                // create a new instance of employee
                                employee = new Employee();
                           }
                           break;
 
                     case XmlPullParser.TEXT:
                           text = parser.getText();
                           break;
 
                     case XmlPullParser.END_TAG:
                           if (tagname.equalsIgnoreCase("employee")) {
                                // add employee object to list
                                employees.add(employee);
                           } else if (tagname.equalsIgnoreCase("id")) {
                                employee.setId(Integer.parseInt(text));
                           } else if (tagname.equalsIgnoreCase("name")) {
                                employee.setName(text);
                           } else if (tagname.equalsIgnoreCase("salary")) {
                                employee.setSalary(text);
                           }
                           break;
 
                     default:
                           break;
                     }
                     eventType = parser.next();
                }
 
           } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
           } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
           }
 
           return employees;
     }
}

Now add following code in MainActivity.class

  
package  com.example.xmlpullparsing;
 
import  java.io.IOException;
import  java.io.InputStream;
import  java.util.List;
 
import  android.os.Bundle;
import  android.app.Activity;
import  android.view.Menu;
import  android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import  android.widget.ListView;
 
public class  MainActivity extends Activity {
 
     @Override
     protected void onCreate(Bundle  savedInstanceState) {
          super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
          setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
          // find data  from xml layout
          ListView listView = (ListView)  findViewById(R.id.listView1);
 
          List<Employee> employees =  null;
          try {
              XmlPullParserHandler parser =  new XmlPullParserHandler();
              // A readable source of bytes.
              InputStream is =  getAssets().open("employees.xml");
              employees = parser.parse(is);
               //  bind data in adapter
              ArrayAdapter<Employee>  adapter = new ArrayAdapter<Employee>(this,
                        android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,  employees);
              // set adapter in listview
              listView.setAdapter(adapter);
 
          } catch (IOException e) {
 
          }
 
     }
 
     @Override
     public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu  menu) {
          // Inflate the menu; this adds  items to the action bar if it is present.
          getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main,  menu);
          return true;
     }
 
}

Now run your application