Java Utililty Methods XML Node Value

StringBuffer value = new StringBuffer();
if (node != null) {
    int childCount = node.getChildNodes().getLength();
    for (int i = 0; i < childCount; i++) {
        Node childNode = node.getChildNodes().item(i);
        switch (childNode.getNodeType()) {
        case Node.TEXT_NODE:
        case Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
...

if (node == null) {
    return null;
return getValue(node.getTextContent());

String val = "";
if (node != null) {
    if (node instanceof Element) {
        val = node.getTextContent();
    } else if (node instanceof Attr) {
        val = ((Attr) node).getValue();
    } else {
        val = node.getNodeValue();
...

NodeList children = node.getChildNodes();
if (children.getLength() == 0) {
    return "";
return children.item(0).getNodeValue();

switch (nodeType) {
case Node.ELEMENT_NODE:
    return ((Element) node).getTagName();
case Node.TEXT_NODE:
    return ((Text) node).getData();
case Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE:
    return ((ProcessingInstruction) node).getData();
default:
...

switch (nodeType) {
case Node.ELEMENT_NODE:
    return ((Element) node).getTagName();
case Node.TEXT_NODE:
    return ((Text) node).getData();
case Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE:
    return ((ProcessingInstruction) node).getData();
default:
...

switch (nodeType) {
case Node.ELEMENT_NODE:
    return ((Element) node).getTagName();
case Node.TEXT_NODE:
    return ((Text) node).getData();
case Node.PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE:
    return ((ProcessingInstruction) node).getData();
default:
...

if (node == null)
    return "";
NodeList nl = ((Element) node).getElementsByTagName(Tag);
if (nl == null)
    return "";
Element el = (Element) nl.item(0);
if (el == null)
    return "";
...

String s = null;
try {
    NodeList nodes = pNode.getChildNodes();
    for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) {
        s = ((Node) nodes.item(i)).getNodeValue().trim();
        if (s.equals("") || s.equals("\r"))
            continue;
} catch (Exception ex) {
    throw new Exception(ex.getMessage());
return s;

List<Node> ref_nodes = getChildRefNode(node);
if (ref_nodes.size() == 1) {
    Node define_node = getDefineRefByName(getRefName(ref_nodes.get(0)), node.getOwnerDocument());
    return getValueByElement(define_node);
} else if (getNodeValue(node) != null) {
    return getNodeValue(node).getTextContent();
} else {
    return "";
...