Q: StAX and arraylist java I'm trying to read an xml document with StAX but I have a little problem and i don't know how to fix it, I've tried to look for over internet (maybe i'm using the wrong key word for my problem :/) so I've this XML: Biologie Question 0 reponse correcte 0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 Chimie Question 0 reponse correcte 0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 CultureG Question 0 reponse correcte 0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 here is my parser: try { // instanciation du parser InputStream in = new FileInputStream(nomFichier); XMLInputFactory factory = XMLInputFactory.newInstance(); XMLStreamReader parser = factory.createXMLStreamReader(in); // lecture des evenements for (int event = parser.next(); event != XMLStreamConstants.END_DOCUMENT; event = parser.next()) { // traitement selon l'evenement switch (event) { case XMLStreamConstants.START_ELEMENT: break; case XMLStreamConstants.END_ELEMENT: if (parser.getLocalName().equals("questionReponse")) { question = new Question(categorieCourante,questionCourante,bonneReponseCourante,mauvaisesReponses); quizz.add(question); } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("categorie")) { categorieCourante = donneesCourantes; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("question")) { questionCourante = donneesCourantes; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("reponse")) { bonneReponseCourante = donneesCourantes; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("mauvaiseReponse")) { mauvaisesReponses.add(donneesCourantes); } break; case XMLStreamConstants.CHARACTERS: donneesCourantes = parser.getText(); break; } // end switch } // end for parser.close(); } and the result is not the one expected: question 0 [categorie = Biologie question = Question 0 bonne reponse = reponse correcte 0 mauvaises reponse = reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 , categorie = Chimie question = Question 0 bonne reponse = reponse correcte 0 mauvaises reponse = reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 , categorie = CultureG question = Question 0 bonne reponse = reponse correcte 0 mauvaises reponse = reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 ] and it's the same for the 0 question i have. When i parse "mauvaiseReponse" all the the "mauvaiseReponse" balise are streamed and added. the result i'm looking for is something like this: question 0 categorie = Biologie question = Question 0 bonne reponse = reponse correcte 0 mauvaises reponse = reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 reponse fausse 0.0 i'm sorry if my english isn't that good, i hope you will undestand my problem and can help me with this A: Explanation Simply, you must renew your badAnswers (mauvaisesReponses) list on each completed Question instance. I've written a sample code for the provided input xml file. For simplicity, I've created the Question class in the same file with solution; // A - first instantiation of badAnswers list List badAnswers = new LinkedList<>(); for (int event = parser.next(); event != XMLStreamConstants.END_DOCUMENT; event = parser.next()) { switch (event) { case XMLStreamConstants.START_ELEMENT: break; case XMLStreamConstants.END_ELEMENT: if (parser.getLocalName().equals("questionReponse")) { Question question = new Question(currentCategory, currentQuestion, currentRightAnswer, badAnswers); quiz.add(question); // B - Renew badAnswers after each Question entry insert badAnswers = new LinkedList<>(); } Please also note that I've used LinkedList implementation here to demonstrate that your problem is not related to the List implementation, it is implementation-agnostic. Solution Code import java.io.FileInputStream; import java.io.FileNotFoundException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.util.LinkedList; import java.util.List; import javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory; import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamConstants; import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException; import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamReader; public class Solution { public static void main(String[] args) { List quiz = getQuiz("inputFile.xml"); printQuiz(quiz); } public static List getQuiz(String fileName) { List quiz = null; try { // parser instantiation InputStream in = new FileInputStream(fileName); XMLInputFactory factory = XMLInputFactory.newInstance(); XMLStreamReader parser = factory.createXMLStreamReader(in); String currentData = null, currentCategory = null, currentQuestion = null, currentRightAnswer = null; quiz = new LinkedList<>(); List badAnswers = new LinkedList<>(); // first instantiation of badAnswers list for (int event = parser.next(); event != XMLStreamConstants.END_DOCUMENT; event = parser.next()) { switch (event) { case XMLStreamConstants.START_ELEMENT: break; case XMLStreamConstants.END_ELEMENT: if (parser.getLocalName().equals("questionReponse")) { Question question = new Question(currentCategory, currentQuestion, currentRightAnswer, badAnswers); quiz.add(question); badAnswers = new LinkedList<>(); // Renew badAnswers after each Question entry insert } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("categorie")) { currentCategory = currentData; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("question")) { currentQuestion = currentData; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("reponse")) { currentRightAnswer = currentData; } if (parser.getLocalName().equals("mauvaiseReponse")) { badAnswers.add(currentData); } break; case XMLStreamConstants.CHARACTERS: currentData = parser.getText(); break; } } // end of for loop parser.close(); } catch (FileNotFoundException | XMLStreamException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } return quiz; } public static void printQuiz(List quiz) { int i = 0; for(Question q : quiz) { System.out.println("Question : " + i++); System.out.printf("\tCategory : %s\n" , q.getCurrentCategory()); System.out.printf("\tQuestion : %s\n" , q.getCurrentQuestion()); System.out.printf("\tAnswer : %s\n" , q.getCurrentRightAnswer()); System.out.printf("\tBad Answers: %s\n" , q.getBadAnswers()); System.out.println("***********************\n"); } } } class Question { private String currentCategory; private String currentQuestion; private String currentRightAnswer; private List badAnswers; public Question(String currentCategory, String currentQuestion, String currentRightAnswer, List badAnswers) { this.currentCategory = currentCategory; this.currentQuestion = currentQuestion; this.currentRightAnswer = currentRightAnswer; this.badAnswers = badAnswers; } public String getCurrentCategory() { return currentCategory; } public String getCurrentQuestion() { return currentQuestion; } public String getCurrentRightAnswer() { return currentRightAnswer; } public List getBadAnswers() { return badAnswers; } } Demo Output Question : 0 Category : Biologie Question : Question 0 Answer : reponse correcte 0 Bad Answers: [reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0] *********************** Question : 0 Category : Chimie Question : Question 0 Answer : reponse correcte 0 Bad Answers: [reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0] *********************** Question : 0 Category : CultureG Question : Question 0 Answer : reponse correcte 0 Bad Answers: [reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0, reponse fausse 0.0] ***********************