XML Parsing

Question

I have a XML file which contains the a parent node then child node which are more that one.So in these child nodes if there are duplicate keys both has to be merged one

<availexport>
 <date>090423121513</date>
 <employee emp_cd="9120004">
    <day date="20050406" start="10" end="20"/>
    <day date="20050406" start="21" end="23"/>
    <day date="20050511" start="12" end="23"/>
 </employee>
 <records>3</records>
</availexport>

In this for same date here there are two records. How can I make it as one XML entry. Actually I am getting as List of all these items as KEY VALUE pairs. snippet for passing List is given

for (int k = this.employeesList.size(); k > 0; k--) {
  Map empInfo1 = new HashMap();
  Map empInfo = (Map) this.employeesList.remove(0);
  this.empID = (Long) empInfo.get(EMP_ID);
  this.hrID = (String) empInfo.get(HR_EMP_ID);
  this.avail_iDate = (Long) empInfo.get(AVAIL_IDATE);
  this.start_ITime = (Long) empInfo.get(START_ITIME);
  this.end_ITime = (Long) empInfo.get(END_ITIME);
  List availList = new ArrayList();
  Map availList1 = new HashMap();
  if (empAvailRecord.containsKey(empID)) {
   empInfo1 = (Map) empAvailRecord.get(empID);
   availList = (List) empInfo1.get("DAY");
   availList1.put(AVAIL_IDATE, avail_iDate);
   availList1.put(START_ITIME, start_ITime);
   availList1.put(END_ITIME, end_ITime);
   availList.add(availList1);
  } else {

   availList1.put(AVAIL_IDATE, avail_iDate);
   availList1.put(START_ITIME, start_ITime);
   availList1.put(END_ITIME, end_ITime);
   availList.add(availList1);

   empInfo1.put("HR_ID", hrID);
   empInfo1.put("DAY", availList);
   empAvailRecord.put(empID, empInfo1);
  }

 }

Answer 1

You should check for repititions before you add availList1 to availList. You can write a function which traverses availList, gets avail_idate and matches it with the one you are about to add. How much records can be there in the list generally. Because you will need to consider peformance factors if traversing sounds costly.