code: static public String getNodeValue(List<Element> elements, String nodeName, String defaultValue)
      {
          if (elements != null)
          {
              for (Element el : elements)
              {
                  if (el.getNodeName().equals(nodeName))
                  {
                      if (el.getFirstChild() != null)
                      {
                          return el.getFirstChild().getTextContent();
                      }
                  }
              }
          }
          return defaultValue;
      }
docs: Return the text value of the first child of the named node, or the specified default if the node can't be found.<br>
  For example, calling getNodeValue(el, "Mode", "whatever") on a list of elements which contains the following XML:
  <Mode>survival</Mode>
  should return "survival".
  @param elements the list of XML elements to search
  @param nodeName the name of the parent node to extract the text value from
  @param defaultValue the default to return if the node is empty / doesn't exist
  @return the text content of the desired element