Introduction to the Solution

Understanding XML Binding

XML binding is how you represent information in an XML document as an object in computer memory. This allows applications to access the data in the XML from the object rather than using the Domain Object Model (DOM), the Simple API for XML (SAX) or the Streaming API for XML (StAX) to retrieve the data from a direct representation of the XML itself. When binding, JAXB applies a tree structure to the graph of JPA entities. Multiple tree representations of a graph are possible and will depend on the root object chosen and the direction the relationships are traversed.

You can find examples of XML binding with JAXB in Binding JPA Entities to XML.

Understanding JAXB

JAXB is a Java API that allows a Java program to access an XML document by presenting that document to the program in a Java format. This process, called binding, represents information in an XML document as an object in computer memory. In this way, applications can access the data in the XML from the object rather than using the Domain Object Model (DOM) or the Streaming API for XML (SAX) to retrieve the data from a direct representation of the XML itself. Usually, an XML binding is used with JPA entities to create a data access service by leveraging a JAX-WS or JAX-RS implementation. Both of these Web Service standards use JAXB as the default binding layer. This service provides a means to access data exposed by JPA across computers, where the client computer might or might not be using Java.

JAXB uses an extended set of annotations to define the binding rules for Java-to-XML mapping. These annotations are subclasses of the javax.xml.bind.* packages in the EclipseLink API. For more information about these annotations, see Java API Reference for EclipseLink.

For more information about JAXB, see "Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB)" at:

http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/moxy.php

Understanding MOXy

MOXy is EclipseLink's JAXB implementation. It allows you to map a POJO model to an XML schema, greatly enhancing your ability to create JPA-to-XML mappings. MOXy supports all the standard JAXB annotations in the javax.xml.bind.annotation package plus has its own extensions in the org.eclipse.persistence.oxm.annotations package. You can use these latter annotations in conjunction with the standard annotations to extend the utility of JAXB. Because MOXy represents the optimal JAXB implementation, you still implement it whether or not you explicitly use any of its extensions. MOXy offers these benefits:

• It allows you to map your own classes to your own XML schema, a process called "Meet in the Middle Mapping". This avoids static coupling of your mapped classes with a single XML schema,

• It offers specific features, such as Xpath-based mapping, JSON binding, and compound key mapping and mapping relationships with back-pointers to address critical JPA-to-XML mapping issues.

• It allows you to map your existing JPA models to industry standard schema.

• It allows you to combine MOXy mappings and EclipseLink's persistence framework to interact with your data through JCA.

• It offers superior performance in several scenarios.

For more information about MOXy, see the MOXy FAQ at:

http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/FAQ/WhatIsMOXy

Understanding an XML Data Representation

Annotations are not always the most effective way to map JPA to XML. For example, you would not use JAXB if:

• You want to specify metadata for a third-party class but do not have access to the source.

• You want to map an object model to multiple XML schemas, because JAXB rules preclude applying more than one mapping by using annotations.

• Your object model already contains too many annotations—for example, from such services as JPA, Spring, JSR-303, and so on—and you want to specify the metadata elsewhere.

Under these and similar circumstances, you can use an XML data representation by exposing the eclipselink_oxm.xml file.

XML metadata works in two modes:

• It adds to the metadata supplied by annotations. This is useful when:

  • Annotations define version one of the XML representation, and you use XML metadata to tweak the metadata for future versions.

  • You use the standard JAXB annotations, and use the XML metadata for the MOXy extensions. In this way you don't introduce new compile time dependencies in the object model.

• It completely replaces the annotation metadata, which is useful when you want to map to different XML representations.

To see how to use XML data representation, see Using XML Metadata Representation to Override JAXB Annotations