JAXB Unmarshalling @XmlAnyElement

eclipselink, java, jaxb, jaxb2, xml-parsing

Solution

You need to add `@XmlRootElement` on the classes you want to appear as instances in the field/property you have annotated with `@XmlAnyElement(lax=true)`.

Java Model

Home

import java.util.List;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.*;

@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
public class Home {
    @XmlAnyElement(lax = true)
    protected List<Object> any;

    //setter getter also implemented
}

Person

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;

@XmlRootElement(name="Person")
public class Person {

}

Animal

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;

@XmlRootElement(name="Animal")
public class Animal {

}

Demo Code

input.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
    <Person/>
    <Animal/>
    <Person/>
</root>

Demo

import javax.xml.bind.*;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;

public class Demo {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws JAXBException {
        JAXBContext jc = JAXBContext.newInstance(Home.class, Person.class, Animal.class);

        Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jc.createUnmarshaller();
        StreamSource xml = new StreamSource("src/forum20329510/input.xml");
        Home home = unmarshaller.unmarshal(xml, Home.class).getValue();

        for(Object object : home.any) {
            System.out.println(object.getClass());
        }
    }

}

Output

class forum20329510.Person
class forum20329510.Animal
class forum20329510.Person

For More Information

- http://blog.bdoughan.com/2012/12/jaxbs-xmlanyelementlaxtrue-explained.html

Problem

I have created three JAXB class : `Home , Person , Animal` . Java Class Home have variable `List<Object> any` that may contain Person and/or Animal instance . ``` public class Home { @XmlAnyElement(lax = true) protected List<Object> any; //setter getter also implemented } @XmlRootElement(name = "Person") // Edited public class Person { protected String name; //setter getter also implemented } @XmlRootElement(name = "Animal") // Edited public class Animal { protected String name; //setter getter also implemented } ``` /* After Unmarshalling */ ``` Home home ; for(Object obj : home .getAny()){ if(obj instanceof Person ){ Person person = (Person )obj; // ......... }else if(obj instanceof Animal ){ Animal animal = (Animal )obj; // ......... } } ``` I need to achieve `Person or Animal` object saved in `"Home.any" List` variable but content of `"Home.any" List` is instance of `com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.dom.ElementNSImpl` instead of `Animal or Person` . So is there a way to achieve `Animal or Person` instance that is saved in xml in `"Home.any" List`.

Original source