Java JDOM Element setName() Method

The Java JDOM setName() method of Element class is used to modify the local name of an already existing XML Element. This method throws an IllegalNameException if the given local name is illegal to be the name of an XML Element.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the Java JDOM Element setName() method −

Element.setName(name);

Parameters

The Java Element.setName() method accepts a single parameter −

name − represents the local name of an Element to set.

Return Value

The Java setName() method returns the modified XML Element.

Example 1

Here is the basic example of using the Java JDOM Element setName() method −

import org.jdom2.Element;

public class SetName {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {	
    	 //Create Document and add root
	     Element root = new Element("book");
	     Element upadatedRoot = root.setName("college");
	     System.out.println(upadatedRoot);
      } catch (Exception e) {
    	 e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

The XML element after updating the local name is displayed.

[Element: <college/>]

Example 2

We need to parse the following book.xml file −

<book>
   <name>War and Peace</name>
   <cost>1400</cost>
</book>

The setName() method is used in the following example to change the local name of the first child from name to bookName.

import java.io.File;
import org.jdom2.Document;
import org.jdom2.Element;
import org.jdom2.input.SAXBuilder;
import org.jdom2.output.Format;
import org.jdom2.output.XMLOutputter;

public class SetName {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      try {	
    	 //Reading the document
    	 SAXBuilder saxBuilder = new SAXBuilder();
    	 File inputFile = new File("book.xml");
    	 Document doc = saxBuilder.build(inputFile);
    	 Element root = doc.getRootElement();
	     Element name = root.getChild("name");
	     name.setName("bookName");
	     //print document
	     XMLOutputter xmlOutput = new XMLOutputter();
	     xmlOutput.setFormat(Format.getPrettyFormat());
	     xmlOutput.output(doc, System.out);
      } catch (Exception e) {
    	 e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

The XML document after updating the local name of the element is displayed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<book>
  <bookName>War and Peace</bookName>
  <cost>1400</cost>
</book>