// COPIED FROM org.netbeans.modules.project.ant:

    // (except for namespace == null support in findElement)

    // (and support for comments in findSubElements)

    /**

     * Search for an XML element in the direct children of a parent.

     * DOM provides a similar method but it does a recursive search

     * which we do not want. It also gives a node list and we want

     * only one result.

     * @param parent a parent element

     * @param name the intended local name

     * @param namespace the intended namespace (or null)

     * @return the first child element with that name, or null if none

     */

    private static Element findElement(Element parent, String name, String namespace) {

        NodeList l = parent.getChildNodes();

        for (int i = 0; i < l.getLength(); i++) {

            if (l.item(i).getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {

                Element el = (Element)l.item(i);

                if ((namespace == null && name.equals(el.getTagName())) ||

                        (namespace != null && name.equals(el.getLocalName()) &&

                        namespace.equals(el.getNamespaceURI()))) {

                    return el;

                }

            }

        }

        return null;

    }