Setting Up Namespace Information

Most XML documents are qualified with a namespace. You can namespace-qualify elements of your Java class at the following levels:

Qualifying at the Package Level
Qualifying at the Type Level
Qualifying at the Field/Property Level

In most cases, package-level annotation is sufficient. You can use the other levels to customize your document. Use the @XmlSchema annotation to specify the namespace.

Qualifying at the Package Level

Use the @XmlSchema annotation on the package to set a default namespace and specify that all elements in the package are qualified with the namespace. This information is specified in a special Java source file, package-info.java.

Example 3-6 Using Annotations

@XmlSchema(
   namespace="http://www.example.org/package",
   elementFormDefault=XmlNsForm.QUALIFIED)
package example;
 
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlNsForm;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSchema;

This can be defined in EclipseLink XML Bindings as follows:

Example 3-7 Using OXM Metadata

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xml-bindings xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm">
    <xml-schema
        element-form-default="QUALIFIED"
        namespace="http://www.example.org/package">
    </xml-schema>
 
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="Customer">
        ...
 
</xml-bindings>

Using a simple Customer class, Example 3-6 and Example 3-7 will produce the following XML:

<customer xmlns="http://www.example.org/package">
   <name>Jane Doe</name>
   <account>36328721</account>
</customer>

All elements are qualified with the http://www.example.org/package namespace.

Qualifying at the Type Level

Type level annotations will override the package level namespace.

Example 3-8 Using Annotations

package example;
 
@XmlRootElement
@XmlType(namespace="http://www.example.org/type")
public class Customer {
   private String name;
 
   private String account;
 
   ...
}

This can be defined in EclipseLink XML Bindings as follows:

Example 3-9 Using XML Bindings File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xml-bindings xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm">
    <xml-schema
        element-form-default="QUALIFIED"
        namespace="http://www.example.org/package">
    </xml-schema>
 
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="Customer">
            <xml-type namespace="http://www.example.org/type" />
            <java-attributes>
                <xml-element java-attribute="name" />
                <xml-element java-attribute="account" />
            </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
    </java-types>
</xml-bindings>

This will produce the following XML:

<custom xmlns="http://www.example.org/package" xmlns:ns0="http://www.example.org/type">
   <ns0:name>Bob</ns0:name>
   <ns0:account>1928712</ns0:account>
</custom>

Elements inside the Customer type are qualified with the http://www.example.org/type namespace.

Qualifying at the Field/Property Level

You can override the package or type namespaces at the property/field level. All attribute and element annotations accept the namespace parameter.

Example 3-10 Overriding the Namespace

package example;
 
@XmlRootElement
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@XmlType(namespace="http://www.example.org/type")
public class Customer {
   private String name;
 
   @XmlElement(namespace="http://www.example.org/property")
   private String account;
 
   ...
}

This can be defined in EclipseLink XML Bindings as follows:

Example 3-11 Sample Bindings File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xml-bindings xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm">
    <xml-schema
        element-form-default="QUALIFIED"
        namespace="http://www.example.org/package">
    </xml-schema>
 
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="Customer">
            <xml-type namespace="http://www.example.org/type" />
            <java-attributes>
                <xml-element java-attribute="name" />
                <xml-element java-attribute="account" namespace="http://www.example.org/property" />
            </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
    </java-types>
</xml-bindings>

This will produce the following XML:

<custom xmlns="http://www.example.org/package" xmlns:ns1="http://www.example.org/property"
   xmlns:ns0="http://www.example.org/type">
   <ns0:name>Bob</ns0:name>
   <ns1:account>1928712</ns1:account>
</custom>

Only the account element is qualified with the http://www.example.org/property namespace.