JAXB works well until I need to do something like serialize beans for which I cannot modify the source. If the bean doesn't have a default constructor or if it refers to objects I want to mark transient then I'm stuck writing a separate bean which I can annotate and then manually copy the information over from the other bean. For instance, I wanted to serialize exception objects, but found that the only way to do that was use a hack that required using com.sun.* classes. So, what alternatives are there? What's the next most popular xml serializing api? It would be nice to be able to do things like: Choose at serialization time whether to include certain fields in the result. (marking things transient when running the serializer). Handle loops in the object graph by using references or something other than just dying. Perhaps annotate an object so that in version 1 it serializes things in one way and in version 2 it serializes them in another. Then when serializing I just choose which version of the object ot serialize. Have a way to generate XSDs from annotations on an object. Basically I just want more flexibility than I currently have with JAXB.

Reputation: 4055

JAXB is good until I need to do something complex. What are the alternatives?

JAXB works well until I need to do something like serialize beans for which I cannot modify the source. If the bean doesn't have a default constructor or if it refers to objects I want to mark transient then I'm stuck writing a separate bean which I can annotate and then manually copy the information over from the other bean.

For instance, I wanted to serialize exception objects, but found that the only way to do that was use a hack that required using com.sun.* classes.

So, what alternatives are there? What's the next most popular xml serializing api? It would be nice to be able to do things like:

Choose at serialization time whether to include certain fields in the result. (marking things transient when running the serializer).
Handle loops in the object graph by using references or something other than just dying.
Perhaps annotate an object so that in version 1 it serializes things in one way and in version 2 it serializes them in another. Then when serializing I just choose which version of the object ot serialize.
Have a way to generate XSDs from annotations on an object.

Basically I just want more flexibility than I currently have with JAXB.

Upvotes: 6

Answers (2)

bdoughan

Reputation: 148977

JAXB is a spec, so you can pick from different implementations. EclipseLink JAXB (MOXy) has extensions for what you are asking:

Externalized Metadata

Useful when dealing with classes for which you cannot annotate the source or to apply multiple mappings to an object model.

XPath Based Mapping

For true meet-in-the-middle OXM mapping:

JPA Compatibility

Including support for bi-directional relationships.

Upvotes: 2

Chris Kessel

Reputation: 5875

Also look at JIBX. It's a good xml<->object mapper. My experience is though that if your objects have a somewhat funky relationships it's often easier to create a wrapper object that hides that complexity and then map that object with JIBX.

Upvotes: 1

JAXB is good until I need to do something complex. What are the alternatives?

Answers (2)

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