Difference SAXParserFactory XMLReaderFactory. Which one to choose?

Question

Both of them seem to have the same purpose (create a XMLReader). Some Tutorials contain the one, some the other.

SAXParserFactory:

• http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/javax/xml/parsers/SAXParserFactory.html
• seems to be more configurable
• more boiler-plate code
• officially supported api

example code:

// SAXParserFactory
SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
SAXParser parser = factory.newSAXParser();
XMLReader reader = parser.getXMLReader();
reader.parse(new InputSource("document.xml"));

XMLReaderFactory:

• http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/org/xml/sax/helpers/XMLReaderFactory.html
• two lines less code
• less configurable
• comunity supported and comes with no waranty

example code:

// XMLReaderFactory
XMLReader xmlReader = XMLReaderFactory.createXMLReader();
xmlReader.parse(new InputSource("document.xml"));

question:

Are these the main differences or are there some i've overseen.

Which one should you choose?

Answer 1

The main JAXP APIs are defined in the javax.xml.parsers package. That package contains vendor-neutral factory classes like the SAXParserFactory which give you a SAXParser.

The SAXParserFactory defines a factory API that enables applications to configure and obtain a SAX based parser to parse XML documents.

• The SAXParser defines the API that wraps an XMLReader implementation class.

• The Package org.xml.sax defines the basic SAX APIs.

• The Java Runtime comes with a default implementation XMLReader

The SAXParserFactory hides details of which (SAX1) ParserFactory / (SAX2) XMLReaderFactory, ... from you.

If you want to be able to replace the default JAXP Parser by a different JAXP Parser (there may be a known incomapatibilty / bug in the default implementation) implementation you should use the vendor neutral SAXParserFactory.

If you know that your application will allways use a SAX2 XMLReader you may use the XMLReaderFactory.