EclipseLink/DesignDocs/293925/MOXyExtensions/XmlCollectionReferenceMapping

XMLCollectionReferenceMapping

Requirements

Provide support for XML collection reference mapping configuration via XML metadata file.

The following should be configurable:

• Path-based mappings
• Positional mappings
• Read only
• Write only
• Get/set method names

Design

Basic XML collection reference mapping support

We will extend our current xml-element and xml-attribute support to allow collection reference mapping configuration. For example, the following XML metadata snippet would be used to setup a collection reference mapping for 'workAddresses':

<xml-element java-attribute="workAddresses" xml-idref="true" />

Where the following exists in Address:

<xml-attribute java-attribute="id" xml-id="true" required="true" />

If workAddresses was to be mapped to an element named work-address-id, then the following would be used:

<xml-element java-attribute="workAddresses" xml-path="work-address-id/text()" xml-idref="true" />

Where the following exists in Address:

<xml-attribute java-attribute="id" xml-id="true" required="true" />

Example:

The following example will demonstrate how to configure XML collection reference mappings via XML metadata by using xml-element and xml-attribute.

org.example.Root.java

package org.example;
 
public class Root {
    public List<Employee> employees;
    public List<Address> addresses;
}

org.example.Employee.java

package org.example;
 
public class Employee {
    public List<Address> workAddresses;
}

org.example.Address.java

package org.example;
 
public class Address {
    public String id;
}

XML Instance Document

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<document-root>
    <employee>
        <contact-info>
            <work-address-id>100</work-address-id>
            <work-address-id>101</work-address-id>
        </contact-info>
    </employee>
    <addresses>
        <address aid="100" />
        <address aid="101" />
        <address aid="102" />
    </addresses>
</document-root>

org/example/eclipselink-oxm.xml

This XML file demonstrates configuring XML collection reference mappings on the "org.example.Employee" class.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>
<xml-bindings xmlns="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/xsds/persistence/oxm">
    <java-types>
        <java-type name="org.eclipse.persistence.testing.jaxb.externalizedmetadata.mappings.collectionreference.Root">
            <xml-root-element name="document-root" />
            <java-attributes>
                <xml-element java-attribute="employees" xml-path="employee" />
                <xml-element java-attribute="addresses" xml-path="addresses/address" />
            </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
        <java-type name="org.eclipse.persistence.testing.jaxb.externalizedmetadata.mappings.collectionreference.Employee">
            <java-attributes>
                <xml-element java-attribute="workAddresses" xml-path="contact-info/work-address-id/text()" xml-idref="true" />
            </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
        <java-type name="org.eclipse.persistence.testing.jaxb.externalizedmetadata.mappings.collectionreference.Address">
            <java-attributes>
                <xml-attribute java-attribute="id" xml-path="@aid" xml-id="true" required="true" />
            </java-attributes>
        </java-type>
    </java-types>
</xml-bindings>

Open Issues

This section lists the open issues that are still pending that must be decided prior to fully implementing this project's requirements.

Issue#	Owner	Description/Notes

Decisions

This section lists decisions made. These are intended to document the resolution of open issues or constraints added to the project that are important.

Issue#	Description/Notes	Decision