java annotations: library to override annotations with xml files

Question

Java has annotations and that is good. However, some developers feel that it is best to annotate code with metadata using xml files - others prefer annotations but would use metadata to override annotations in source code.

I am writing a Java framework that uses annotations. The question is: is there a standard way to define and parse metadata from xml files. I think this is something every framework that uses annotations could benefit from but I can seem to find something like this on the Internet.

Must I roll my own xml parsing/validation or has someone already done something like this?

Answer 1

There is not a standard way, but here are some Java frameworks who does it:

• JPA - check ejb-3_0-fr-spec-persistence.pdf
• Spring Framework
• TestNG - as written above, though I think it focuses to much on the annotation side rather than the actual configuration he tries to achieve
• Seam Framework