Difference among XML SAX parser, Pull parser & DOM Parser in android

Question

I want to know what's the difference between XML SAX parser, Pull parser & DOM parser in Android. In which condition, which one is better in performance and implementation?

Thanx. Khobaib.

Answer 1

Dom Parser - It uses object based approach. i.e., it first loads the entire XML in memory, converts the XML nodes into objects and then starts parsing them. So, it is pretty slower.

SAX and PULL Parser - they use event based approach. Both are almost same in terms of memory and performance. However there are few distinguishing situations on when to use them as described below.

Dom Parser - Use it when you need to validate the entire XML before parsing. Never use it when the XML is too large and validation can be compromised. Once it starts parsing, it parses from starting node to ending node. there is no way to parse only particular nodes.

SAX - Use it when you want to parse the entire XML. Once it starts parsing, it parses from starting node to ending node. there is no way to parse only particular nodes.

PULL - Use it when you don't want to parse the entire XML. It is easier to implement than SAX, because you don't have to maintain the state of your parser. You can pull only a particular node you are interested at.

My suggestion is - Need validation - Go for DOM, File size is small or you are not interested in parsing of entire XML- Go for PULL, File size is large or you need to parse the entire XML file - Go for SAX.