How to update XML file without reformatting it
Recently, I needed to modify content of a few thousands XML files. The modification itself was nontrivial and consisted of reading two attributes from an element and then updating a value of a previously read attribute. And to make it even more interesting, I wanted to keep the formatting of all files intact. My goal was creating a reusable utility that could be used also in the future, should such a need rise again. Because of the need to preserve the formatting, I rejected all tools I usually use (Dom4j, SAX, Jaxb) and started to search for a suitable tool. Finally I found the answer in a form of a recommendation on http://stackoverflow.com , the tool recommended was VTD-XML (or on github ).