XMLRootElement converting a class to XML in jersey

Question

I'm very good in converting a model class to JSON Array or Object.

But i'm a noob when it comes to XML.

I want my final output to be like this

<Response>
<Say voice="alice">Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!</Say>
</Response>

To achieve it i create a model class

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

    private Say say = new Say();

    public Say getSay() {
        return say;
    }

    public void setSay(Say say) {
        this.say = say;
    }

    @XmlRootElement(name = "Say")
    static class Say {

        @XmlAttribute
        private String voice = "alice";

        private String string = "Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!";

        public String getString() {
            return string;
        }

        public void setString(String string) {
            this.string = string;
        }
    }   
}

Now after converting it to XML with jersey my output was

<Response>
<say voice="alice">
<string>Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!</string>
</say>
</Response>

I got a extra string tag. I'm not sure what attribute to set for the String so that it comes in the body.? Or is there any other way?

Also for say. The 'S' is not capitalised. How can i make it a capital letter?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

By default properties and public fields will be mapped to elements. What you want to do is use @XmlValue to map the field to the element's value.

@XmlRootElement(name = "Say")
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
static class Say {

    @XmlAttribute
    private String voice = "alice";

    @XmlValue
    private String string = "Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!";

    public String getString() {
        return string;
    }

    public void setString(String string) {
        this.string = string;
    }
} 

Note the use of @XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD). This is so the default behavior doesn't "doubly" attempt to map the property defined by the getter and setter. Alternatively, you could place the annotations on the getter, and leave out the the @XmlAccessorType

Result:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Response>
    <say voice="alice">Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!</say>
</Response>

public class ResponseTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(Response.class);
        Marshaller marshaller = context.createMarshaller();
        marshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true);
        Response response = new Response();
        marshaller.marshal(response, System.out);
    }
}

---

UPDATE

but can i know why the 'S' in Say is not capitalised even though @XmlRootElement(name = "Say") is specified?

You need to specify the name with @XmlElement(name = "Say") on the property. If you don't the default naming will kick in.

@XmlElement(name = "Say")
public Say getSay() {
    return say;
}

The XmlRootElement(name = "Say") is only for if the element is used as the root element. For instance this:

Response.Say response = new Response.Say();
marshaller.marshal(response, System.out);

Would give you this output

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Say voice="alice">Thanks for trying our documentation. Enjoy!</Say>