Fetch value of a node's attribute in XML

Question

I have an XML document, a snippet of which is below:

<item name="entryDataItem" type="dataView" caption="__entry_data_item" id="208" formItem="selectbox"> 
<properties>
  <property name="caption" value="Task Type"/>
  <property name="name" value="task_type"/>
  </properties>
</item>
<item name="entryDataItem" type="dataView" caption="__entry_data_item"  id="211" formItem="text">
<properties>
  <property name="caption" value="Time Spent (Min)"/>
  <property name="name" value="time_spent_min"/>
  </properties>
</item>  

etc.

There are other "properties" as well. The value of "task_type" as well as all other properties are stored in database. When I iterate through the document, all the properties are fetched and a document is prepared with "caption" and "value" from the XML. The problem is , all the "properties" are printed. But I want contents of the document to be based on the "task_type"; say when the task_type value is TESTING", then only task_type "ESTIMATION" would be printed and nothing else.

I understand I have to put a check just before where the document is being prepared.
My question is: How do I put the condition when I only have "task_type" in the XML and not a value(eg."TESTING") directly within the XML document?

My code is a simple JAVA code.
Any help as to how this can be achived is much appreciated.

Answer 1

In my opinion, XPath is the bee's knees when it comes to going after specific items in a XML document. This article might be of some use if it's something you want to persue.