EclipseLink/Release/2.4.0/JSONBinding

Object-to-JSON Binding Layer

Overview

New in EclipseLink 2.4 is support for converting objects to and from JSON. This can be useful when creating RESTful services, as JAX-RS services often accept both XML (application/xml) and JSON (application/json) messages.

Same Flexibility as Object-to-XML Mapping

JSON binding is compatible with most existing MOXy extensions. This includes:

• External bindings file
• Dynamic JAXB
• Extensible models

XML and JSON Messages with One Set of Mappings

Both an XML message such as:

<foo xmlns="urn:examle" id="123">
   <bar>Hello World</bar>
</foo>

and a JSON message such as:

{"foo" : {
    "id" : 123,
    "bar : "Hello World"
}}

can be supported by a single object model:

@XmlRootElement(namespace="urn:example")
public class Foo {
 
   @XmlAttribute
   private int id;
 
   @XmlElement(namespace="urn:example")
   private String bar;
 
}

No Additional Compile-Time Dependencies

JSON binding does not require any additional compile-time dependencies above and beyond what is required for normal JAXB usage.

Easy to Use with JAX-RS

EclipseLink JSON support makes it easy to implement MessageBodyReader and MessageBodyWriter classes for use with RESTful web services.

Marshalling and Unmarshalling with JSON

Adapting your application to produce and consume JSON is as easy as setting a property on your JAXB Marshaller or Unmarshaller:

import org.eclipse.persistence.jaxb.MarshallerProperties;
import org.eclipse.persistence.oxm.MediaType;
 
...
 
Marshaller m = jaxbContext.createMarshaller();
m.setProperty(MarshallerProperties.MEDIA_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 
Unmarshaller u = jaxbContext.createUnmarshaller();
u.setProperty(MarshallerProperties.MEDIA_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);