This is a simple example of how to use the ROME library to parse feeds:

   1  import com.sun.syndication.io.*;
   2  import com.sun.syndication.feed.synd.*;
   3  import java.net.URL;
   4  import java.util.*;
   5  
   6  public class RomeParserTest {
   7  
   8  	public static void main(String args[]) {
   9  		try {
  10  			SyndFeedInput sfi = new SyndFeedInput();
  11  
  12  			String urls[] = {
  13  				"...", 
  14  				"..." 
  15  			};
  16  			
  17  			for(String url:urls) {
  18  				SyndFeed feed = sfi.build(new XmlReader(new URL(url)));
  19  
  20  				List entries = feed.getEntries();
  21  
  22  				System.out.println(feed.getTitle());			
  23  				System.out.println(entries.size());
  24  			}
  25  		} catch (Exception ex) {
  26  			throw new RuntimeException(ex);
  27  		}
  28  	}
  29  }

This example works with Oracle:

   1  private String getBlobAsString(Blob blob)
   2  {
   3      StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
   4      
   5      if ( blob != null ) 
   6      {
   7          int read = 0;
   8          Reader reader = null;
   9          char[] buffer = new char[1024];
  10                                  
  11          try
  12          {
  13              reader = new InputStreamReader(blob.getBinaryStream(), "UTF-8");
  14  
  15              while((read = reader.read(buffer)) != -1) 
  16              {
  17                  result.append(buffer, 0, read);
  18              }
  19          }
  20          catch(SQLException ex)
  21          {
  22              throw new RuntimeException("Unable to read blob data.", ex);
  23          }
  24          catch(IOException ex)
  25          {
  26              throw new RuntimeException("Unable to read blob data.", ex);
  27          }
  28          finally
  29          {
  30              try { if(reader != null) reader.close(); } catch(Exception ex) {};
  31          }
  32      }
  33      
  34      return result.toString();
  35  }

Then use the method like this:

   1  ResultSet resultSet = your JDBC result set;
   2  
   3  String utf8 = getBlobAsString(resultSet.getBlob("xml"));
   4  

This example works with Oracle:

   1  private Blob getBlob(Connection connection, String data)
   2  {
   3    BLOB blob = BLOB.createTemporary(connection, true, BLOB.DURATION_SESSION);
   4  
   5    try
   6    {
   7        blob.open(BLOB.MODE_READWRITE);
   8        blob.putBytes(1, data.getBytes("UTF-8")); // Consider streaming, if data size is unknown. Note that setBytes doesn't work
   9    }
  10    catch(UnsupportedEncodingException ex)
  11    {
  12        throw new RuntimeException("Unable to get a blob for '" + data + "'", ex);
  13    }
  14    catch(SQLException ex)
  15    {
  16        throw new RuntimeException("Unable to get a blob for '" + data + "'", ex);
  17    }
  18    finally
  19    {
  20        try { if(blob != null) blob.close(); } catch(Exception ex) {};
  21    }
  22  }

Then use the method like this:

   1  Connection connection = getConnection();
   2  PreparedStatement statement = getPreparedStatement(yer sequel);
   3  
   4  statement.setBlob(1, getBlob(connection,  <Mao's Little Red Book>));

   1  // Split URL into protocol, domain, port and URI
   2  Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("(https?://)([^:^/]*)(:\\d*)?(.*)?");
   3  Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(url);
   4  
   5  matcher.find();
   6  
   7  String protocol = matcher.group(1);            
   8  String domain   = matcher.group(2);
   9  String port     = matcher.group(3);
  10  String uri      = matcher.group(4);

There are a few ways to format currency to your own locale. If you want the formatted result to appear without the currency sign then this is probably one of the better ways to do it. In the real world you would dig the locale from the user’s request or session and pass it as a parameter to the method.

   1  public static String formatCurrency(String amount) {
   2      NumberFormat decimalFormat = NumberFormat.getInstance(new Locale("fi", "FI", ""));
   3      decimalFormat.setMinimumFractionDigits(2);
   4      return decimalFormat.format(amount);
   5  }