XMLUtil { public static List<Element> getChildElements(Element element) { NodeList childNodes = element.getChildNodes(); List<Element> elements = new ArrayList<Element>(); for (int i = 0; i < childNodes.getLength(); i++) { Node n = childNodes.item(i); if (n instanceof Element) { elements.add((Element) n); } } return elements; } private  XMLUtil(); static Document parseXML(String xmlAsString); static Document parseXML(InputStream in); static void writeXML(Node xml, File file); static void writeXML(Node xml, OutputStream outputStream); static void removeNodes(Element parent, NodeList elements); static List<Element> getChildElementsByName(Element element,
			String localName); static List<Element> getChildElements(Element element); static void addAsFirstChild(Element element, Element newChild); static QName getQName(Node n); static void removeAllSubNodesExceptAttributes(Node n); static Document createDocument(); static String getContentsOfTextOnlyNode(Node n); static String getXPathForElement(Node e, NamespaceContext ctx); static int getPosition(Element e); static Text appendTextNode(Element e, String contents); static String getTextContent(Node e); static QName resolveQName(String qNameWithPrefix, Element element); static String resolveNamespacePrefix(String prefix, Element element); static QName resolveQNameTargetNS(String sName, Node context, String targetNS);  }
@Test public void testGetChildElements() throws Exception { Document doc = XMLUtil.parseXML(getClass().getResourceAsStream( "simple.xml")); Element root = doc.getDocumentElement(); List<Element> children = XMLUtil.getChildElements(root); assertEquals(3, children.size()); assertEquals("a", children.get(0).getLocalName()); assertEquals("b", children.get(1).getLocalName()); assertEquals("c", children.get(2).getLocalName()); assertEquals(0, XMLUtil.getChildElements(children.get(0)).size()); }