How to change programmatically the default JAXB date serialization?

Question

Is there a way to change the default way jaxb serialize/deserialize types, dates in my case, without specifying it through annotation and/or through xml jaxb binding as mentioned here http://jaxb.java.net/guide/Using_different_datatypes.html

I'd basically like to do something like:

    JAXBContext jaxbContext = ...;
    Marshaller marshaller = jaxbContext.createMarshaller().setAdapter(new DateAdapter(dateFormat));

To have a preconfigured JaxBContext or Marshaller/Unmarshaller that serialize/deserialize dates in a customized way..

Couldn't find any resource that shows how to do expect through annotations or statically with the xml binding file.. Thanks!

does `javax.xml.bind.Marshaller.setAdapter(XmlAdapter)` not work for you? — lexicore, Jun 17 '11 at 06:34
@lexicore - `javax.xml.bind.Marshaller.setAdapter(XmlAdapter)` is for passing in an initialized `XmlAdapter` when the model is already configured to use an `XmlAdapter` and not to introduce an `XmlAdapter`. For an example see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5319024/using-jaxb-to-cross-reference-xmlids-from-two-xml-files/5327425#5327425 — bdoughan, Jun 28 '11 at 16:02
The fact that the `@XmlJavaTypeAdapter(s)` annotations are unavoidable are a big pain for frameworks. For XStream, we can register a converter to apply to all Foo fields, but for jaxb we can't because it expects us to change the user's domain package-info.java file... — Geoffrey De Smet, Jun 22 '16 at 13:11

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 25 '11 at 00:35

14

This isn't exactly what you're looking for but it beats annotating every Date field individually. You can set a XmlJavaTypeAdapter at the package level so that every reference to Date within your package will use it. If your objects are in the com.example package, you should add a package-info.java file to it with the following contents:

@XmlJavaTypeAdapter(value=MyCustomDateAdapter.class,type=Date.class)
package com.example;

answered Jun 25 '11 at 00:35

Patrick Marchwiak

1,072
2
11
24

+1 - For a related example see: http://bdoughan.blogspot.com/2011/05/jaxb-and-joda-time-dates-and-times.html – bdoughan Jun 28 '11 at 15:58
2

Will this also handle sub-packages of com.example such as com.example.foo and com.example.bar? – Ed Randall Jun 13 '14 at 09:43
This is not programatically: it doesn't work for frameworks :( – Geoffrey De Smet Jun 22 '16 at 13:12

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 16 '11 at 21:06

Try this:

import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext;
import javax.xml.bind.Marshaller;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlJavaTypeAdapter;

@XmlRootElement(name = "event")
public class Event {

    private Date date;
    private String description;

    @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(DateFormatterAdapter.class)
    public Date getDate() {
        return date;
    }

    public void setDate(final Date date) {
        this.date = date;
    }

    public String getDescription() {
        return description;
    }

    public void setDescription(final String description) {
        this.description = description;
    }

    private static class DateFormatterAdapter extends XmlAdapter<String, Date> {
        private final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd_mm_yyyy");

        @Override
        public Date unmarshal(final String v) throws Exception {
            return dateFormat.parse(v);
        }

        @Override
        public String marshal(final Date v) throws Exception {
            return dateFormat.format(v);
        }
    }

    public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
        final JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(Event.class);
        final Marshaller marshaller = context.createMarshaller();
        marshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true);

        final Event event = new Event();
        event.setDate(new Date());
        event.setDescription("im rick james");

        marshaller.marshal(event, System.out);
    }
}

This produces:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<event>
    <date>16_05_2011</date>
    <description>im rick james</description>
</event>

That's not what I'm looking for, your Event object has already an annotation that specifies how to serialize the date (@XmlJavaTypeAdapter). What I need is a pre-configured jaxb (un)marshaller that already knows how to (de)serialize some types without the need to pre-annotate the objects passed to it.. — zhk, Jun 16 '11 at 21:51
Be aware, that the SimpleDateFormat "dd_mm_yyyy" will display days, MINUTES and years. Probably "dd_MM_yyyy" is the better choice. — slartidan, Dec 12 '13 at 17:25

puppyDomminatedWorld · Answer 3 · 2016-04-13T04:28:00.463

After searching whole jaxb documentation and many tutorials, I did not find any answer that can configure dates apart from what we hard code in XMLAdapter. I put a property file in classpath having date formats as for example: dateFormat=mm-dd-YYYY

Now your XMLAdapter implementation goes as below:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter;

public class ConfigurableAdapterForDate extends XmlAdapter<String, Date>{

    private static final String FORMAT = "yyyy-mm-dd";
    private String formatFromFile =  null;
    private SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat();

    private void setFormatFromFile() throws IOException {
        //load property file
        Properties prop = new Properties();
        InputStream is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("<path to your property file>");
        prop.load(is);

        //get the format from loaded property file
        formatFromFile = prop.getPropertyValue("dateFormat");

        if(formatFromFile != null) {
            format.applyPattern(formatFromFile);
        }
        else {
            format.applyPattern(FORMAT );
        }
    }

    @Override
    public Date unmarshal(String v) throws Exception {
        this.setFormatFromFile();
        return format.parse(v);
    }

    @Override
    public String marshal(Date v) throws Exception {
        this.setFormatFromFile();
        return format.format(v);
    }

}

Now you can use @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(ConfigurableAdapterForDate.class)for date objects which you want to serialize/deserialize. One is free to use spring also to load property file. Above code will configure your date accordingly.

The validation of the attribute will be failed because it is declared as String like following [ The date of the export ] . — Aguid, Oct 10 '17 at 13:22

How to change programmatically the default JAXB date serialization?

3 Answers3

Linked