(a)Smack's IQ.toXml() returns XML without custom child elements

Question

I'm using asmack the latest version (asmack-android-8-source-0.8.3) in a android project and I have the following code:

connection.addPacketListener(new PacketListener()
{
    @Override
    public void processPacket(Packet p)
    {
        if(p.getPacketID().equals("v3"))
        {
            Log.e("TAG", p.toXML());
        }
    }
}, new IQTypeFilter(IQ.Type.RESULT));


Packet iq = new Packet() 
{
    @Override
    public String toXML() 
    {
        String str = "<iq type='get' id='v3'><getservertime xmlns='urn:xmpp:mrpresence'/></iq>";
        Log.e("TAG", str);
        return str;
    }
};

//sends <iq type='get' id='v3'><getservertime xmlns='urn:xmpp:mrpresence'/></iq>
connection.sendPacket(iq);

in the debugger the response it's ok and this is expected:

<iq type="result" id="v3" to="minimaal@mrserver/Smack">
    <servertime xmlns="urn:xmpp:mrpresence" utc="2013-06-28T11:45:32.380Z" local="2013-06-28T07:45:32.380Z"/>
</iq>

but p.toXML() in the package listner, the tag "servertime" it's missing:

<iq id="v3" to="minimaal@mrserver/Smack" type="result"></iq>

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

<servertime/> is a custom child element, which is not known to Smack. It is simply ignored when parsing the stanza. You need to make Smack aware of the element, by creating a new PacketExtension which needs to get registered with the ProviderManager.

You can read more about it in Smack's documentation about the Provider Architecture.