Java: Passing String variable in new File();

Question

I am developing an desktop application which reads specific XML Elements using XPath and displays them in text fields in a JFrame.

So far, the program ran smoothly until I decided to pass a String variable in the File class.

public void openNewFile(String filePath) {
    //file path C:\\Documents and Settings\\tanzim.hasan\\my documents\\xcbl.XML 
    //is passed as a string from another class.
    String aPath = filePath;

    //Path is printed on screen before entering the try & catch.
    System.out.println("File Path Before Try & Catch: "+filePath);

    try {
        //The following statement works if the file path is manually written. 
        // File xmlFile = new File ("C:\\Documents and Settings\\tanzim.hasan\\my documents\\xcbl.XML");

        //The following statement prints the actual path  
        File xmlFile = new File(aPath);
        System.out.println("file =" + xmlFile);

        //From here the document does not print the expected results. 
        DocumentBuilderFactory docFactory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
        docFactory.setNamespaceAware(true);

        DocumentBuilder docBuilder = docFactory.newDocumentBuilder();
        Document doc = docBuilder.parse(xmlFile);
        doc.getDocumentElement().normalize();

        XPath srcPath = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath();
        XPathShipToAddress shipToPath = new XPathShipToAddress(srcPath, doc);
        XPathBuyerPartyAddress buyerPartyPath = new XPathBuyerPartyAddress(srcPath, doc);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        //
    }
}

If I define the xmlFile with a static path (i.e. manually write it) then the program works as expected. However, instead of writing a static path, if I pass the path as a string variable aPath it does not print the expected results.

I have done a bit of googling but failed to find anything concrete.

Answer 1

Just use the builtin object methods:

System.out.println("file = "+xmlFile.toString());

You could also use:

System.out.println("f = " + f.getAbsolutePath());

Also, if you're having issues wit hthe file not existing, check first then proceed:

File file = new File (aPath);
if(file.exists()) {
  //Do your work
}