JiBX: Attribute Groups

Defines the binding style for simple values. The allowed values are "element" (values as child elements with only text content) or "attribute" (values as attributes).

Local (unqualified) name of element or attribute.

Gives the type to be used when creating instances of the object during unmarshalling. This gives an alternative to the factory attribute when all you want to do is use a specific implementation for an interface or an abstract class.

Defines a custom serialization handler class, as the fully-qualified name of a class implementing the org.jibx.runtime.Marshaller interface. This is only allowed with an output binding; it is required if an unmarshaller is defined for an input-output binding.

Defines a bound class method called on instances of the class after they are populated with data from unmarshalling. This can be used for any postprocessing or validation required by the class. Three different method signatures are supported, as described in the factory attribute text.

Defines a bound class method called on new instances of the class before they are populated with data from unmarshalling. This can be used for any initialization or special handling required before a constructed instance is used. Three different method signatures are supported, as described in the factory attribute text.

Gives the name of the field within the containing class that supplies the property value. This is required except for auto-generated identity fields, for values from a collection, or when both get-method (for output bindings) and set-method (for input bindings) definitions are supplied.

Defines a "get" method for retrieving the property value from an instance of the containing class. This is the name of a no-argument method returning a value (primitive or object). If a get-method is defined for an object value represented by some form of structure in the binding (not just a simple value, in other words), the method will be used to retrieve the current instance of an object when unmarshalling. This follows the principle of JiBX reusing existing objects for unmarshalled data where possible. If you return a null value during unmarshalling, JiBX will create a new instance of the object for unmarshalled data.

Defines a method for checking if an optional property is present in an instance of the containing class. This is the name of a no-argument method with return type boolean, which must return true if the property is present and false if it is not present. This is only allowed in combination with usage="optional". If not specified, a simple == comparison is used with primitive types to check for a value different from the default, and a equals() comparison for object types with non-null defaults

Defines the usage requirement for this property. The value can either be "required" (property is always present, the default if not specified) or "optional" (property is optional).

Determines whether repeated elements within an unordered group should be allowed. The default is "false", meaning that if a bound element is repeated the runtime code will throw an exception. Setting this "true" means repeated elements will be processed the same as in pre-1.1 versions of JiBX. A "true" value for this attribute is only allowed when all child definitions are elements (no attributes or text), and requires ordered="false". It cannot be used in combination with choice="true". This attribute is ignored on a collection element.

Defines whether unknown elements within an unordered group should be ignored. The default is "false", meaning that if an unknown element (one not allowed by the binding) is found during unmarshalling the runtime code will throw an exception. Setting this "true" means unknown elements will be ignored (along with all their content). A "true" value for this attribute is only allowed when all child definitions are elements (no attributes or text), and requires ordered="false". It cannot be used in combination with choice="true". This attribute is ignored on a collection element.

Defines whether child binding definitions represent an ordered list (value "true", the default) or an unordered set ("false"). When this is set "true", each child value component must define either an element or an attribute name (attributes are always unordered, so the ordered setting of the grouping has no effect on attributes). value elements defining text values (style="text") are not allowed as direct children of groups with ordered="false".

Gives the default value for a conversion. This is only allowed for optional properties. If not specified, the default for primitive types is the same as the member variable initial state defined by the JLS, and for object types is "null".

Defines a custom deserialization handler method, as the fully-qualified name of a static method with the signature Target xxxx(String text), where xxxx is the method name and Target is the type of the property (primitive or object type). Note that when a custom deserialization handler method is used for an optional object type with no default value, that method will be called with a null argument when the corresponding value is missing in the input document. It's up to the handler method to handle this case appropriately (by returning either a null or an object of the expected type).

Selects how whitespace will be handled when deserializing values. This optional attribute can have the values: "preserve", meaning all text is processed just as provided by the parser; "replace", meaning all tab, newline, and carriage return characters in the text are replaced by space characters before the text is processed; "collapse", meaning that after "replace" processing is done all leading and trailing space characters are eliminated and all embedded sequences of multiple spaces are replaced by single spaces; or "trim", meaning that after "replace" processing is done all leading and trailing space characters are eliminated.