JAXB

Java Architecture for XML Bindings

What is JAXB?
JAXB defines the behavior of a standard set of tools and interfaces
that automatically generate java class files from XML schema
JAXB is a framework or architecture, not an implementation.
Sun provides a reference implementation of JAXB with the Web
Services Developers kit, available as a separate download
http://java.sun.com/webservices/downloads/webservicespack.html

JAXB vs. DOM and SAX

JAXB is a higher level construct than DOM or SAX
DOM represents XML documents as generic trees
SAX represents XML documents as generic event streams
JAXB represents XML documents as Java classes with properties
that are specific to the particular XML document
E.g. book.xml becomes Book.java with getTitle, setTitle, etc.

JAXB thus requires almost no knowledge of XML to be

able to programmatically process XML documents!

High-level comparison
Before diving into details of JAXB, its good to see a
birds-eye-view of the difference between JAXB and SAX
and/or DOM-like parsers
Study the books/ examples under the examples/jaxb
directory on the course website

JAXB steps

We start by assuming that you have a

valid installation of java web services
developers pack version 3. We cover
these installation details later

Using JAXB then requires several

steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Run the binding compiler on the

schema file to automagically produce
the appropriate java class files
Compile the java class files (ant tool
helps here)
Study the autogenerated api to learn
what java types have been created
Create a program that unmarshals an
xml document into these elementary
data structures

Running binding compiler

<install_dir>/jaxb/bin/xjc.sh -p test.jaxb books.xsd -d work

xjc.sh : executes binding compiler

-p test.jaxb : place resulting class files in package test.jaxb
books.xsd : run compiler on schema books.xsd
-d work : place resulting files in directory called work/

Note that this creates a huge number of files that together represent the
content of the books.xsd schema as a set of Java classes
It is not necessary to know all of these classes. Well study them only
at a high level so we can understand how to use them

Example: students.xsd

Generated interfaces

xjc.sh -p test.lottery students.xsd

This generates the following interfaces

test/lottery/ObjectFactory.java
Contains methods for generating instances of the interfaces

test/lottery/Students.java
Represents the root node <students>

test/lottery/StudentsType.java
Represents the unnamed type of each student object

Generated implementations
Each interface is implemented in the impl directory
test/lottery/impl/StudentsImpl.java
Vendor-specific implementation of the Students inteface

test/lottery/impl/StudentsTypeImpl.java
Vendor-specific implementation of the StudentsType Interface

Compilation
Next, the generated classes must be compiled:
javac students/*.java students/impl/*.java

CLASSPATH requires many jar files:

jaxb/lib/*.jar
jwsdp-shared/lib/*.jar
jaxp/lib/**/*.jar

Note: an ant buildfile (like a java makefile) makes this

much easier. More on this later

Generated docs
Java API docs for these classes are generated in
students/docs/api/*.html

After bindings are generated, one usually works directly

through these API docs to learn how to access/manipulate
the XML data.

Sample Programs

Sample Programs
Easiest way to learn is to cover certain generic sample cases. These are
all on the course website under cspp53025/examples/jaxb
Summary of examples:
student/
Use JAXB to read an xml document composed of a single student complex
type

student/
Same, but for an xml document composed of a sequence of such student types
of indefinite length

purchaseOrder/
Another read example, but for a more complex schema

Sample programs, cont

Course examples, cont
create-marshal
Purchase-order example modified to create in memory and write to
XML

modify-marshal
Purchase-order example modified to read XML, change it and write
back to XML

Study these examples!

Some additional JAXB details

Binding Data Types

Default java datatype bindings can be found at:
http://java.sun.com/webservices/docs/1.3/tutorial/doc/JAXBWorks5.html

These defaults can be changed if required for an

application
Also, name binding are fairly standard changes of names
to things acceptable in java programming language
See other binding rules on subsequent pages

Default binding rules summary

The JAXB binding model follows the default binding rules summarized below:

Bind the following to Java package:

Bind the following XML Schema components to Java content interface:

A global element declaration to a Element interface.

Local element declaration that can be inserted into a general content list.

Bind to Java property:

A named simple type definition with a basetype that derives from "xsd:NCName" and has enumeration facets.

Bind the following XML Schema components to a Java Element interface:

Named complex type

Anonymous inlined type definition of an element declaration

Bind to typesafe enum class:

XML Namespace URI

Attribute use
Particle with a term that is an element reference or local element declaration.

Bind model group with a repeating occurrence and complex type definitions with mixed {content type} to:

A general content property; a List content-property that holds Java instances representing element information items and character data
items.