javax.xml.bind.UnmarshalException: unexpected element. Expected elements are (none)

Question

I am getting this error, while unmarshalling a string. I have created Java files using JAXB.

JAXBContext jaxbContext = JAXBContext.newInstance(DocumentType.class);
Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jaxbContext.createUnmarshaller();
// Input string posted below
DocumentType dType = (DocumentType) unmarshaller.unmarshal(new StringReader("input string"));

Stack trace:

Exception in thread "main" javax.xml.bind.UnmarshalException: unexpected element (uri:"http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd", local:"document"). Expected elements are (none)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext.handleEvent(UnmarshallingContext.java:647)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportError(Loader.java:243)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportError(Loader.java:238)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportUnexpectedChildElement(Loader.java:105)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext$DefaultRootLoader.childElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:1048)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext._startElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:483)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext.startElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:465)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.SAXConnector.startElement(SAXConnector.java:135)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(AbstractSAXParser.java:506)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:376)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl$NSContentDriver.scanRootElementHook(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:602)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:3065)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$PrologDriver.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:881)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:607)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:116)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:489)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:835)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:764)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:123)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1210)
    at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:568)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal0(UnmarshallerImpl.java:203)
    at com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal(UnmarshallerImpl.java:175)
    at javax.xml.bind.helpers.AbstractUnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal(AbstractUnmarshallerImpl.java:157)
    at javax.xml.bind.helpers.AbstractUnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal(AbstractUnmarshallerImpl.java:214)
    at JaxbTest.main(JaxbTest.java:19)

XSD:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema targetNamespace="http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd"
    xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:tns="http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd"
    elementFormDefault="qualified">

    <xs:element name="document" type="tns:documentType"></xs:element>

    <xs:complexType name="documentType">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="businessCard" type="tns:businessCardType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"></xs:element>
        </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:complexType name="businessCardType">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="field" type="tns:fieldType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"></xs:element>
        </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:complexType name="fieldType">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="value" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
            </xs:element>
            <xs:element name="characters" type="tns:charactersType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"></xs:element>
            <xs:element name="fieldComponents" type="tns:fieldComponentsType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"></xs:element>
        </xs:sequence>
        <xs:attribute name="type" type="tns:typeType"></xs:attribute>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:simpleType name="typeType">
        <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
            <xs:enumeration value="Name"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Phone"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Mobile"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Fax"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Company"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Job"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Address"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Email"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Web"></xs:enumeration>
            <xs:enumeration value="Text"></xs:enumeration>
        </xs:restriction>
    </xs:simpleType>

    <xs:complexType name="charactersType">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="char" type="tns:charType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"></xs:element>
        </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:complexType name="charType">
        <xs:simpleContent>
            <xs:extension base="xs:string">
                <xs:attribute name="suspicious" type="xs:boolean" use="optional"></xs:attribute>
            </xs:extension>
        </xs:simpleContent>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:complexType name="fieldComponentsType">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="fieldComponent" type="tns:fieldComponentType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"></xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>


    <xs:complexType name="fieldComponentType">
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="value" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
        </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
      <xs:attribute name="type" type="tns:fieldComponentTypeType"></xs:attribute>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:simpleType name="fieldComponentTypeType">
      <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
        <xs:enumeration value="FirstName"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="MiddleName"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="LastName"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="ExtraName"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="PhonePrefix"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="PhoneCountryCode"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="PhoneCode"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="PhoneBody"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="PhoneExtension"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="ZipCode"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="Country"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="City"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="StreetAddress"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="JobPosition"></xs:enumeration>
        <xs:enumeration value="JobDepartment"></xs:enumeration>
      </xs:restriction>
    </xs:simpleType>

</xs:schema>

Input string:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<document xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd" xmlns="http://ocrsdk.com/schema/recognizedBusinessCard-1.0.xsd">
<businessCard>
<field type="Phone">
  <value>783-37-00</value>
</field>
<field type="Phone">
  <value>783-37-01</value>
</field>
<field type="Fax">
  <value>783-26-63</value>
</field>
<field type="Email">
  <value>[email protected]</value>
</field>
<field type="Web">
  <value>www.abbyy.com</value>
</field>
<field type="Address">
  <value>Otradnaya str., 2b, bld.6, 127273, Moscow, Russia</value>
</field>
<field type="Name">
  <value>John Smith</value>
</field>
<field type="Company">
  <value>ABBYY Headquarters</value>
</field>
<field type="Job">
  <value>Product Analyst</value>
</field>
<field type="Text">
  <value>ABBYY ABBYY Headquarters John Smith Product Analyst ABBYY Headquarters Otradnaya str., 2b, bld.6, 127273, Moscow, Russia Tel: 783-37-00 Fax: 783-26-63 [email protected] www.abbyy.com </value>
</field>
</businessCard>
</document>

Answer 1

When you generate a JAXB model from an XML Schema, global elements that correspond to named complex types will have that metadata captured as an @XmlElementDecl annotation on a create method in the ObjectFactory class. Since you are creating the JAXBContext on just the DocumentType class this metadata isn't being processed. If you generated your JAXB model from an XML Schema then you should create the JAXBContext on the generated package name or ObjectFactory class to ensure all the necessary metadata is processed.

Example solution:

JAXBContext jaxbContext = JAXBContext.newInstance(my.generatedschema.dir.ObjectFactory.class);
DocumentType documentType = ((JAXBElement<DocumentType>) jaxbContext.createUnmarshaller().unmarshal(inputStream)).getValue();

Answer 2

Alternatively if you want to persist in using the DocumentType class. Then you could just add the following annotation on top of your DocumentType class.

    @XmlRootElement(name="document")

Note: the String value "document" refers to the name of the root tag of the xml message.