Question

I’m facing a marshalling/unmarshalling problem involving inheritance and polymorphism using MOXy’s JAXB implementation and external metadata bindings file.

I have no control on the XML files or the model classes.

There are multiple classes inside the model that inherit other DTO classes.
Here is an example of the environment I’m working in. This example is only here for some syntax purpose, the real environment involves nested inheritance, collections etc. :

Here is the class that will be inherited

  class A {

        private String name;

        public String getName(){
              return name;
        }

        public void setName(String value){
              name = value;
        }

  } 

Here is one inherited class

  class B extends A {

        private String attrFromB;

        public String getAttrFromB(){
              return attrFromB;
        }

        public void setAttrFromB(String value){
              attrFromB = value;
        }
  } 

And another

  class C extends A {

        private String attrFromC;

        public String getAttrFromC(){
              return attrFromC;
        }

        public void setAttrFromC(String value){
              attrFromC= value;
        }
  } 

Here is a container class

  class MyContainerClass{

        private A myObject;

        public A getMyObject(){
           return myObject;
        }

        public void setMyObject(A value){
           myObject = value;
        }
  }

Here is the XML that it should produce in the case of MyContainer containing A

  <MyContainer>
        <MyObject nameA="foo" />
  </MyContainer>

MyContainer containing B

  <MyContainer>
        <MyObject nameB="foo" attrFromB="bar" />
  </MyContainer>

And MyContainer containing C

  <MyContainer>
        <MyObject nameC="foo" attrFromC="bar" />
  </MyContainer>

So you can already see problems in the horizon…

Here is the mapping file that I would write :

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
     <xml-bindings 
        xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm"
        package-name="com.test.example"
        version="2.1">  

        <java-type name="A" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="name" xml-path="@nameA" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>  

        <java-type name="B" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <xml-see-also>
              com.test.example.A
           </xml.see.also>
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="name" xml-path="@nameB" />
              <xml-element java-attribute="attrFromB" xml-path="@attrFromB" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>

        <java-type name="C" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <xml-see-also>
              com.test.example.A
           </xml.see.also>
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="name" xml-path="@nameC" />
              <xml-element java-attribute="attrFromC" xml-path="@attrFromC" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>

        <java-type name="MyContainer" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyContainer" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="myObject" type="com.test.example.A" xml-path="MyObject" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>

     </xml-bindings>

---

The first problem is that if I bind the classes like that, I get the following exception :

  [Exception [EclipseLink-44] (Eclipse Persistence Services - 2.3.0.v20110604-r9504): org.eclipse.persistence.exceptions.DescriptorException
  Exception Description: Missing class indicator field from database row [UnmarshalRecord()].

1st question : I understand that this is normal, Jaxb needs some way to determine the type of MyContaioner.myObject attribute. The problem is that I have no access to the incoming XML files, so I cant add xsi:type fields to them. Is there a way to determine a class based on the presence of a specific attribute in it ? regardless of it’s value. If the source xml contains a @attrFromC attribute, I know the object should be of type C. If it contains attrFromB, it’s B.

---

The second problem is that the “name” attribute doesn’t exist inside B and C, so jaxb ignores em.

  --Ignoring attribute [name] on class [com.test.example.B] as no Property was generated for it.
  --Ignoring attribute [name] on class [com.test.example.C] as no Property was generated for it.

2nd question : The other problem is that I dont know if Jaxb is capable of overriding xml attribute names like it is expected inside the XML file (@nameA, @nameB and nameC all referring to A.name), is there a way to do it ?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Answer 1

Below are the answers to your questions. The answer to question 2, is also an answer to question 1.

---

1st question : I understand that this is normal, Jaxb needs some way
to determine the type of MyContaioner.myObject attribute. The problem
is that I have no access to the incoming XML files, so I cant add
xsi:type fields to them. Is there a way to determine a class based on
the presence of a specific attribute in it ? regardless of it’s value.
If the source xml contains a @attrFromC attribute, I know the object
should be of type C. If it contains attrFromB, it’s B.

You can leverage the ClassExtractor extension in EclipseLink JAXB (MOXy) for this use case:

MyClassExtractor

A ClassExtractor is some code that you can implement to help MOXy determine which class it should instanitate. You are passed a Record and you can ask for the presence of the attributes at the current element by XPath to determine which class should be instantiated.

package com.test.example;

import org.eclipse.persistence.descriptors.ClassExtractor;
import org.eclipse.persistence.sessions.*;

public class MyClassExtractor extends ClassExtractor{

    @Override
    public Class<?> extractClassFromRow(Record record, Session session) {
        if(null != record.get("@attrFromB")) {
            return B.class;
        } else if(null != record.get("@attrFromC")) {
            return C.class;
        } else {
            return A.class;
        }
    }

}

Metadata (oxm.xml)

You can configure the ClassExtractor using the @XmlClassExtractor annotation. You can also do this via the external metadata file. I have adapted the one included in your question to include this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml-bindings 
    xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm"
    package-name="com.test.example"
    version="2.3">
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="A" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-class-extractor class="com.test.example.MyClassExtractor"/>
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-attribute java-attribute="name" name="nameA" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>  
        <java-type name="B" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-attribute java-attribute="name" name="nameB" />
              <xml-attribute java-attribute="attrFromB"/>
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
        <java-type name="C" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyObject" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-attribute java-attribute="name" name="nameC" />
              <xml-attribute java-attribute="attrFromC"/>
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
        <java-type name="MyContainerClass" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyContainer" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="myObject" name="MyObject" />
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
    </java-types>
</xml-bindings>

Demo

The following demo code unmarshals each of the XML documents from your question, and outputs the type being held by the myObject property:

package com.test.example;

import java.io.StringReader;
import java.util.*;
import javax.xml.bind.*;
import org.eclipse.persistence.jaxb.JAXBContextFactory;

public class Demo {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Map<String, Object> properties = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        properties.put(JAXBContextFactory.ECLIPSELINK_OXM_XML_KEY, "com/test/example/oxm.xml");
        JAXBContext jc = JAXBContext.newInstance(new Class[] {MyContainerClass.class}, properties);
        Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jc.createUnmarshaller();

        StringReader aXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameA='foo'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerA = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(aXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerA.getMyObject().getClass());

        StringReader bXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameB='foo' attrFromB='bar'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerB = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(bXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerB.getMyObject().getClass());

        StringReader cXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameC='foo' attrFromC='bar'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerC = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(cXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerC.getMyObject().getClass());
    }

}

Output

[EL Warning]: 2012-01-20 10:36:41.828--Ignoring attribute [name] on class [com.test.example.B] as no Property was generated for it.
[EL Warning]: 2012-01-20 10:36:41.828--Ignoring attribute [name] on class [com.test.example.C] as no Property was generated for it.
class com.test.example.A
class com.test.example.B
class com.test.example.C

---

2nd question : The other problem is that I dont know if Jaxb is
capable of overriding xml attribute names like it is expected inside
the XML file (@nameA, @nameB and nameC all referring to A.name), is
there a way to do it ?

You can leverage an XmlAdapter for this question. This approach can also be used to answer your first question:

AAdapter

package com.test.example;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAttribute;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter;

public class AAdapter extends XmlAdapter<AAdapter.AdaptedA, A> {

    @Override
    public AdaptedA marshal(A a) throws Exception {
        if(null == a) {
            return null;
        }
        AdaptedA adaptedA = new AdaptedA();
        if(a instanceof C) {
            C c = (C) a;
            adaptedA.nameC = c.getName();
            adaptedA.attrFromC = c.getAttrFromC();
        } else if(a instanceof B) {
            B b = (B) a;
            adaptedA.nameB = b.getName();
            adaptedA.attrFromB = b.getAttrFromB();
        } else if(a instanceof A) {
            adaptedA.nameA = a.getName();
        }
        return adaptedA;
    }

    @Override
    public A unmarshal(AdaptedA adaptedA) throws Exception {
        if(null == adaptedA) {
            return null;
        }
        if(null != adaptedA.attrFromC) {
            C c = new C();
            c.setName(adaptedA.nameC);
            c.setAttrFromC(adaptedA.attrFromC);
            return c;
        } else if(null != adaptedA.attrFromB) {
            B b = new B();
            b.setName(adaptedA.nameB);
            b.setAttrFromB(adaptedA.attrFromB);
            return b;
        } 
        A a = new A();
        a.setName(adaptedA.nameA);
        return a;
    }

    public static class AdaptedA {
        @XmlAttribute public String nameA;
        @XmlAttribute public String nameB;
        @XmlAttribute public String nameC;
        @XmlAttribute public String attrFromB;
        @XmlAttribute public String attrFromC;
    }

}

Metadata (oxm-2.xml)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml-bindings 
    xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm"
    package-name="com.test.example"
    version="2.3">
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="MyContainerClass" xml-accessor-type="NONE">
           <xml-root-element name="MyContainer" />
           <java-attributes>
              <xml-element java-attribute="myObject" name="MyObject">
                <xml-java-type-adapter value="com.test.example.AAdapter"/>
              </xml-element>
           </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
    </java-types>
</xml-bindings>

Demo2

package com.test.example;

import java.io.StringReader;
import java.util.*;
import javax.xml.bind.*;
import org.eclipse.persistence.jaxb.JAXBContextFactory;

public class Demo2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Map<String, Object> properties = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        properties.put(JAXBContextFactory.ECLIPSELINK_OXM_XML_KEY, "com/test/example/oxm-2.xml");
        JAXBContext jc = JAXBContext.newInstance(new Class[] {MyContainerClass.class}, properties);
        Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jc.createUnmarshaller();
        Marshaller marshaller = jc.createMarshaller();
        marshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true);

        StringReader aXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameA='foo'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerA = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(aXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerA.getMyObject().getClass());
        marshaller.marshal(myContainerA, System.out);

        StringReader bXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameB='foo' attrFromB='bar'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerB = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(bXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerB.getMyObject().getClass());
        marshaller.marshal(myContainerB, System.out);

        StringReader cXml = new StringReader("<MyContainer><MyObject nameC='foo' attrFromC='bar'/></MyContainer>");
        MyContainerClass myContainerC = (MyContainerClass) unmarshaller.unmarshal(cXml);
        System.out.println(myContainerC.getMyObject().getClass());
        marshaller.marshal(myContainerC, System.out);
    }

}

Output

class com.test.example.A
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MyContainer>
   <MyObject nameA="foo"/>
</MyContainer>
class com.test.example.B
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MyContainer>
   <MyObject nameB="foo" attrFromB="bar"/>
</MyContainer>
class com.test.example.C
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MyContainer>
   <MyObject nameC="foo" attrFromC="bar"/>
</MyContainer>