Java XML Binding [closed]

Solution 1:

If you want to make an informed decision you need to be clear why you are translating between XML and java objects. The reason being that the different technologies in this space try to solve different problems. The different tools fall into two categories:

1. XML data binding - refers to the process of representing the information in an XML document as an object in computer memory. Typically, this means defining an XSD and generating a java source code equivalent. Interop between different languages is top priority (hence the use of XSD) - most typically for the implementation of SOAP-based web services.
2. XML serialisation - refers to writing out a graph of in memory objects to a stream, so that it can be reconstituted somewhere or sometime else. You write the java classes by hand; the xml representation is of secondary importance. Also, the need for performance is often greater and the need for interoperation with other languages such as .net is often lower.

For xml serialisation, Xstream is hard to beat. JAXB is the standard for XML binding.

In either case, if you are using J2EE you'll need to pay careful attention to classes retrieved from JPA since class proxies and persistence specific collection types can confuse binding / serialization tools.

Solution 2:

JiBX. Previously I used Castor XML, but JiBX proved to be significantly better, particularly in terms of performance (a straight port of some application code from Castor XML to JiBX made it 9x faster). I also found the mapping format for JiBX to be more elegant than Castor's.

JiBX achieves its performance by using post-compilation bytecode manipulation rather than the reflection approach adopted by Castor. This has the advantage that it places fewer demands on the way that you write your mapped classes. There is no need for getters, setters and no-arg constructors just to satisfy the tools. Most of the time you can write the class without considering mapping issues and then map it without modifications.

Solution 3:

If you have an XSD for the XML, and you don't need to bind the data to an existing set of classes, then I really like XMLBeans. Basically, it works like this:

• Compile XSD
• Use generated java classes to read/write documents conforming to this schema

Binding an XML document to the generated classes is as simple as:

EmployeesDocument empDoc = EmployeesDocument.Factory.parse(xmlFile);