JAXB
Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) is a Java technology that provides an easy and convenient way to map Java classes and XML schema for simplified development of web services. JAXB leverages the flexibility of platform-neutral XML data in Java applications to bind XML schema to Java applications without requiring extensive knowledge of XML programming. JAXB provides the xjc schema compiler tool and the schemagen schema generator tool to transform between XML schema and Java classes.
JAXB is an XML to Java binding technology that supports transformation between schema and Java objects and between XML instance documents and Java object instances. JAXB consists of a runtime API and accompanying tools that simplify access to XML documents. JAXB also helps to build XML documents that both conform and validate to the XML schema. JAX-WS leverages the JAXB API and tools as the binding technology for mappings between Java objects and XML documents. JAX-WS tooling relies on JAXB tooling for default data binding for two-way mappings between Java objects and XML documents.
This version of the application server supports the JAXB 2.2 specification. JAX-WS 2.2 requires JAXB 2.2 for data binding. JAXB 2.2 provides minor enhancements to its annotations for improved schema generation and better integration with JAX-WS.
JAXB provides the xjc schema compiler tool, the schemagen schema generator tool, and a runtime framework. Use the xjc schema compiler tool to start with an XML schema definition (XSD) to create a set of JavaBeans that map to the elements and types defined in the XSD schema. We can also start with a set of JavaBeans and use the schemagen schema generator tool to create the XML schema. Once the mapping between XML schema and Java classes exists, XML instance documents can be converted to and from Java objects through the use of the JAXB binding runtime API. Data stored in XML documents can be accessed without the need to understand the data structure. We can then use the resulting Java classes to assemble a web services application.
JAXB annotated classes and artifacts contain all the information needed by the JAXB runtime API to process XML instance documents. The JAXB runtime API supports marshaling of JAXB objects to XML and unmarshaling the XML document back to JAXB class instances. Optionally, we can use JAXB to provide XML validation to enforce both incoming and outgoing XML documents to conform to the XML constraints defined within the XML schema.
JAXB is the default data binding technology used by the JAX-WS tooling and implementation within this product. We can develop JAXB objects for use within JAX-WS applications.
We can also use JAXB independently of JAX-WS when we want to leverage the XML data binding technology to manipulate XML within your Java applications.
Figure 1. JAXB architecture
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