/**
  * get the document node of a topic file.
  *
  * @param absolutePathToFile topic file
  * @return element.
  */
 private Element getTopicDoc(final String absolutePathToFile) {
   final DocumentBuilder builder = getDocumentBuilder();
   try {
     final Document doc = builder.parse(absolutePathToFile);
     return doc.getDocumentElement();
   } catch (final SAXException e) {
     e.printStackTrace();
   } catch (final IOException e) {
     e.printStackTrace();
   }
   return null;
 }