Oracle TopLink JAXB 1.0

Step 1: Directory Setup

Create the <DEMO_HOME> directory and place the Customer.xsd at the root of the directory.

Step 2: Create TopLink Workbench Project

In this How-To, you use the TopLink Workbench to run the TopLink JAXB compiler to generate a TopLink Workbench project, model classes, and mappings automatically.

1. Execute the workbench.cmd (Windows) or the workbench.sh (UNIX) file to start the TopLink Workbench, located in the <ORACLE_HOME>/bin directory.

2. From the File menu, select New > Project From XML Schema (JAXB).

   The Create TopLink Workbench Project using JAXB dialog appears.

   Create TopLink Workbench Project using JAXB dialog

   
   Description of "Create TopLink Workbench Project using JAXB dialog"
   
   

3. Enter the following into the Create TopLink Workbench Project using JAXB dialog:

   • Schema File: <DEMO_HOME>/Customer.xsd

   • Optional Customization File: This is a JAXB-specific file used to customize how the generation will occur. For this How-To, leave this field blank.

   • Output Directory: <DEMO_HOME>/jaxb-output

   • Output Source Directory: ./source

   • Output Workbench Project Directory: ./mw

   • Package Name for Generated Interfaces: examples.jaxb.model

   • Package Name for Generated Implementation Classes: examples.jaxb.model

4. Click OK.

   The TopLink Workbench generates all of the required source files. Upon completion, the new TopLink Workbench project, model class descriptors, and mappings appear.

   TopLink Workbench

   
   Description of "TopLink Workbench"
   
   

   Review the source tree to view the generated classes and the TopLink Workbench project file. You will need the classes generated, the jaxb.properties file, and the TopLink mapping files (sessions.xml and Customer.xml) to use this in an application. The remainder of the files are development time artifacts only.

Step 3: Customize the TopLink Metadata (Optional)

Together with the standard artifacts, the TopLink JAXB compiler produces a TopLink Workbench project. At this point, any of the TopLink object-to-XML features can be applied to customize the object model. For the purposes of this How-To document, you will add an Object Type Converter to the _Gender attribute of the PersonalInfoTypeImpl class.

Step 4: Write a Simple Test Application

To write a simple test application, you will need to set the required classpath as follows:

• <ORACLE_HOME>/toplink/jlib/toplink.jar

• <ORACLE_HOME>/lib/xmlparserv2.jar

• <ORACLE_HOME>/lib/xml.jar

• <DEMO_HOME>/classes

The content model will now be used to unmarshal an XML document from a file (Customer-data.xml), manipulate the data, and then marshal the data back to XML.

The first step is to create a <DEMO_HOME>/classes folder and compile the generated source files there. Copy the TopLink mapping files (sessions.xml and Customer.xml) to the classes folder.

The next step is to create a JAXBContext. The JAXBContext provides the client's entry point to the JAXB API. The input to the newInstance method corresponds to the value you entered for Package Name for Generated Implementation Classes when you created the TopLink Workbench project.

javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext jaxbContext = JAXBContext.newInstance("examples.jaxb.model");

Next, you must unmarshal the XML data to object form. Use the JAXBContext to create an instance of the Unmarshaller class. The Unmarshaller class can accept many types of XML input. For the purpose of this How-To document, you will use the Customer-data.xml file.

java.io.File file = new java.io.File("Customer-data.xml");
javax.xml.bind.Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jaxbContext.createUnmarshaller();
Customer customer = (Customer) unmarshaller.unmarshal(file);

Now that you have the data in object form, you can manipulate it. The sample code demonstrates how to add a PhoneNumber. Notice how only a few lines of code are required compared to what would be required if this was done using DOM programming.

PhoneNumber homePhoneNumber  = new ObjectFactory().createPhoneNumber();
homePhoneNumber.setType("home");
homePhoneNumber.setValue("(613) 555-3333");
customer.getContactInfo().getPhoneNumber().add(homePhoneNumber);

Finally you will marshal the object data back to XML form. To do this, you can use the JAXBContext to create an instance of the Marshaller class. The Marshaller class can generate many types of XML output. For the purpose of this How-To document, you will use System.out.

javax.xml.bind.Marshaller marshaller = jaxbContext.createMarshaller();
marshaller.setProperty(javax.xml.bind.Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, Boolean.TRUE);
marshaller.marshal(customer, System.out);