Eclipse Implementation of JAXB also provides an Ant task to run the binding complier - see the instructions for XJC Ant Task.
The binding compiler can be launched using the appropriate
xjc shell script in the bin
directory for your platform.
Solaris/Linux
% /path/to/jaxb/bin/xjc.sh -help
Windows
> c:\path\to\jaxb\bin\xjc.bat -help
jaxb-xjc.jar JAR
FileIf all else fails, you should be able to execute the
jaxb-xjc.jar file:
Solaris/Linux
% java -jar $JAXB_HOME/lib/jaxb-xjc.jar -help
Windows
> java -jar %JAXB_HOME%\lib\jaxb-xjc.jar -help
This is equivalent of running xjc.sh or xjc.bat, and it allows you to set the JVM parameters.
xjc [OPTION]... <schema file/URL/dir/jar> [-b <binding>...]
Usage: xjc [-options ...] <schema file/URL/dir/jar> ... [-b <bindinfo>] ...
If dir is specified, all schema files in it will be compiled.
If jar is specified, /META-INF/sun-jaxb.episode binding file will be compiled.
Options:
-nv : do not perform strict validation of the input schema(s)
-extension : allow vendor extensions - do not strictly follow the
Compatibility Rules and App E.2 from the JAXB Spec
-b <file/dir> : specify external bindings files (each <file> must have its own -b)
If a directory is given, **/*.xjb is searched
-d <dir> : generated files will go into this directory
-p <pkg> : specifies the target package
-m <name> : generate module-info.java with given Java module name
-httpproxy <proxy> : set HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Format is [user[:password]@]proxyHost:proxyPort
-httpproxyfile <f> : Works like -httpproxy but takes the argument in a file to protect password
-classpath <arg> : specify where to find user class files
-catalog <file> : specify catalog files to resolve external entity references
support TR9401, XCatalog, and OASIS XML Catalog format.
-readOnly : generated files will be in read-only mode
-npa : suppress generation of package level annotations (**/package-info.java)
-no-header : suppress generation of a file header with timestamp
-target 3.0 : behave like XJC 3.0 and generate code that doesn't use any new features
-encoding <encoding> : specify character encoding for generated source files
-enableIntrospection : enable correct generation of Boolean getters/setters to enable Bean Introspection apis
-disableXmlSecurity : disables XML security features when parsing XML documents
-contentForWildcard : generates content property for types with multiple xs:any derived elements
-xmlschema : treat input as W3C XML Schema (default)
-relaxng : treat input as RELAX NG (experimental,unsupported)
-relaxng-compact : treat input as RELAX NG compact syntax (experimental,unsupported)
-dtd : treat input as XML DTD (experimental,unsupported)
-wsdl : treat input as WSDL and compile schemas inside it (experimental,unsupported)
-verbose : be extra verbose
-quiet : suppress compiler output
-help : display this help message
-version : display version information
-fullversion : display full version information
Extensions:
-Xinject-code : inject specified Java code fragments into the generated code
-Xlocator : enable source location support for generated code
-Xsync-methods : generate accessor methods with the 'synchronized' keyword
-mark-generated : mark the generated code as @jakarta.annotation.Generated
-noDate : do not add date
-Xann <annotation> : generate <annotation> instead of @jakarta.annotation.Generated
-episode : generate the episode file for separate compilation
-Xpropertyaccessors : Use XmlAccessType PROPERTY instead of FIELD for generated classesBy default, the XJC binding compiler performs strict validation of the source schema before processing it. Use this option to disable strict schema validation. This does not mean that the binding compiler will not perform any validation, it simply means that it will perform less-strict validation.
By default, the XJC binding compiler strictly enforces the rules outlined in the Compatibility chapter of the Jakarta XML Binding Specification. In some cases, you may be allowed to use them in the "-extension" mode enabled by this switch. In the default (strict) mode, you are also limited to using only the binding customizations defined in the specification. By using the "-extension" switch, you will be allowed to use the Overview.
Specify one or more external binding files to
process. (Each binding file must have it's own -b switch.) The syntax of the external
binding files is extremely flexible. You may have a
single binding file that contains customizations for
multiple schemas or you can break the customizations
into multiple bindings files:
xjc schema1.xsd schema2.xsd schema3.xsd -b bindings123.xjb xjc schema1.xsd schema2.xsd schema3.xsd -b bindings1.xjb -b bindings2.xjb -b bindings3.xjb
In addition, the ordering of the schema files and binding files on the command line does not matter.
By default, the XJC binding compiler will generate the Java content classes in the current directory. Use this option to specify an alternate output directory. The output directory must already exist, the XJC binding compiler will not create it for you.
Set the encoding name for generated sources,
such as EUC-JP or UTF-8. If -encoding is
not specified, the platform default encoding is
used.
Specifying a target package via this command-line option overrides any binding customization for package name and the default package name algorithm defined in the specification.
Specify the HTTP/HTTPS proxy. The format is
[user[:password]@]proxyHost[:proxyPort]. The old -host and -port are still
supported by the RI for backwards compatibility, but
they have been deprecated.
Same as the -httpproxy
<proxy> option, but it takes the
<proxy> parameter in a file, so that you can
protect the password (passing a password in the
argument list is not safe.)
Specify where to find client application class
files used by the <jxb:javaType>
and <xjc:superClass>
customizations.
Specify catalog files to resolve external entity
references. Supports TR9401, XCatalog, and OASIS XML
Catalog format. Please read the XML Entity and URI
Resolvers document or the
catalog-resolver sample
application.
By default, the XJC binding compiler does not write-protect the Java source files it generates. Use this option to force the XJC binding compiler to mark the generated Java sources read-only.
Supress the generation of package level annotations into **/package-info.java. Using this switch causes the generated code to internalize those annotations into the other generated classes.
Supress the generation of a file header comment
that includes some note and timestamp. Using this
makes the generated code more
diff-friendly.
Avoid generating code that relies on any JAXB 2.1|2.2 features. This will allow the generated code to run with JAXB 2.0 runtime (such as JavaSE 6.)
treat input schemas as W3C XML Schema (default). If you do not specify this switch, your input schemas will be treated as W3C XML Schema.
Treat input schemas as RELAX NG (experimental, unsupported). Support for RELAX NG schemas is provided as a Overview.
Treat input schemas as RELAX NG compact syntax(experimental, unsupported). Support for RELAX NG schemas is provided as a Overview.
Treat input schemas as XML DTD (experimental, unsupported). Support for RELAX NG schemas is provided as a Overview.
Treat input as WSDL and compile schemas inside it (experimental,unsupported).
Suppress compiler output, such as progress information and warnings..
Be extra verbose, such as printing informational messages or displaying stack traces upon some errors..
Display a brief summary of the compiler switches.
Display the compiler version information.
Display the compiler full version information.
Specify one or more schema files to compile. If you specify a directory, then xjc will scan it for all schema files and compile them.
This feature causes the generated code to expose SAX Locator information about the source XML in the Java bean instances after unmarshalling.
This feature causes all of the generated method signatures to include the synchronized keyword.
This feature causes all of the generated code to
have
@Generated annotation.
Generate an episode file from this compilation, so that other schemas that rely on this schema can be compiled later and rely on classes that are generated from this compilation. The generated episode file is really just a Jakarta XML Binding customization file (but with vendor extensions.)
Annotate the @XmlAccessorType
of generated classes with XmlAccessType PROPERTY
instead of FIELD
These options have been deprecated and replaced with the -httpproxy option. For backwards compatibility, we will continue to support these options, but they will no longer be documented and may be removed from future releases.
Since the Jakarta XML Binding specification has defined a portable runtime, it is no longer necessary for the Eclipse Implementation of JAXB to generate **/impl/runtime packages. Therefore, this switch is obsolete and has been removed.
In general, it is safest to compile all related schemas as a single unit with the same binding compiler switches.
Please keep the following list of restrictions in mind when running xjc. Most of these issues only apply when compiling multiple schemas with multiple invocations of xjc.
To compile multiple schemas at the same time, keep the following precedence rules for the target Java package name in mind:
The -p command line option
takes the highest precedence.
<jaxb:package>
customization
If targetNamespace is declared,
apply targetNamespace -> Java
package name algorithm defined in the
specification.
If no targetNamespace is
declared, use a hardcoded package named
"generated".
It is not legal to have more than one <
jaxb:schemaBindings> per namespace, so it is
impossible to have two schemas in the same target namespace
compiled into different Java packages.
All schemas being compiled into the same Java package must be submitted to the XJC binding compiler at the same time - they cannot be compiled independently and work as expected.
Element substitution groups spread across multiple schema files must be compiled at the same time.
XJC produces a set of packages containing Java source files and
also jaxb.properties files, depending on the binding
options you used for compilation. When generated,
jaxb.properties files must be kept with the compiled
source code and made available on the runtime classpath of your client
applications:
The jaxb-xjc.jar file contains the
XJCTask.class file, which allows the XJC binding
compiler to be invoked from the Ant build tool. To
use XJCTask, include the following statement in
your build.xml file:
<taskdef name="xjc" classname="com.sun.tools.xjc.XJCTask"> <classpath> <fileset dir="path/to/jaxb/lib" includes="*.jar"/> </classpath> </taskdef>
This maps XJCTask to an Ant task named
xjc. For detailed examples of using this task,
refer to any of the build.xml files used by the Sample Apps.
ANT_OPTS - command-line arguments that should be passed to the JVM. For example, you can define system properties or set the maximum Java heap size here.
xjc supports the following parameter
attributes.
| Attribute | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| A schema file to be compiled. A file name (can be relative to the build script base directory), or an URL. | This or nested <
|
| An external binding file that will be applied to the schema file. | No |
| If specified, generated code will be placed under this Java package. This option is equivalent to the "-p" command-line switch. | No |
| Generated code will be written under
this directory. If you specify
| Yes |
| Disable XML security features when parsing XML documents.
| No |
| Set the encoding name for generated sources, such as EUC-JP or UTF-8. If it is not specified, the platform default encoding is used. | No |
| Generate Java source files in the
read-only mode if | No |
| Generate a header in each generated
file indicating that this file is generated by such
and such version of Eclipse Implementation of JAXB when.
| No |
| If set to | No |
| Specify the catalog file to resolve external entity references. Support TR9401, XCatalog, and OASIS XML Catalog format. See the catalog-resolver sample for details. | No |
| Used in pair with nested
| No |
| Specifies the runtime environment in which the generated code is supposed to run. Expects 2.0 or 2.1 values. This allows more up-to-date versions of XJC to be used for developing applications that run on earlier JAXB versions. | No, defaults to "2.2" |
| Specifies the schema language to compile. Supported values are "WSDL", "XMLSCHEMA", and "WSDL." Case insensitive. | No, defaults to "XMLSCHEMA" |
xjc supports the following nested element
parameters.
schemaTo compile more than one schema at the same time, use a
nested <schema> element, which has
the same syntax as
<fileset> .
bindingTo specify more than one external binding file at the
same time, use a nested <binding>
element, which has the same syntax as
<fileset> .
classpathTo specify locations of the user-defined classes
necessary during the compilation (such as an user-defined type
that is used through a <javaType>
customization), use nested
<classpath> elements. For the syntax,
see "path-like
structure" .
argAdditional command line arguments passed to the XJC. For details about the syntax, see the relevant section in the Ant manual. This nested element can be used to specify various options not natively supported in the xjc Ant task. For example, currently there is no native support for the following xjc command-line options:
-nv
-use-runtime
-schema
-dtd
-relaxng
-Xlocator
-Xsync-methods
To use any of these features from the
<xjc> Ant task, you must specify the
appropriate nested < arg> elements.
dependsFiles specified with this nested element will be taken
into account when the XJC task does the up-to-date check. See
the up-to-date check section for details. For the syntax, see
<fileset> .
producesFiles specified with this nested element will be taken
into account when the XJC task does the up-to-date check. See
the up-to-date check section for details. For the syntax, see
<fileset> .
xmlcatalogThe xmlcatalog element is used to resolve entities when parsing schema documents.
Please see the Generated Resource Files for more detail.
By default, the XJC binding compiler always compiles the inputs. However, with a little additional setting, it can compare timestamps of the input files and output files and skip compilation if the files are up-to-date.
Ideally, the program should be able to find out all the inputs
and outputs and compare their timestamps, but this is difficult and
time-consuming. So you have to tell the task input files and output
files manually by using nested <depends> and
<produces> elements. Basically, the XJC
binding compiler compares the timestamps specified by the
<depends> elements against those of the
<produces> set. If any one of the "depends"
file has a more recent timestamp than some of the files in the
"produces" set, it will compile the inputs. Otherwise it will skip the
compilation.
This will allow you to say, for example "if any of the
.xsd files in this directory are newer than the
.java files in that directory, recompile the
schema".
Files specified as the schema files and binding files are
automatically added to the "depends" set as well, but if those schemas
are including/importing other schemas, you have to use a nested
<depends> elements. No files are added to the
<produces> set, so you have to add all of
them manually.
A change in a schema or an external binding file often results
in a Java file that stops being generated. To avoid such an "orphan"
file, it is often desirable to isolate all the generated code into a
particular package and delete it before compiling a schema. This can
be done by using the removeOldOutput attribute.
This option allows you to remove all the files that match the
"produces" filesets before a compilation. Be careful when
you use this option so that you don't delete important
files.
This release of the Eclipse Implementation of JAXB includes experimental support for
RELAX NG, DTD, and WSDL. To compile anything other than W3C XML Schema
from the xjc Ant task, you must use the nested <
arg> element to specify the appropriate command line
switch, such as -dtd, -relaxng, or -wsdl. Otherwise, your input schemas will be treated as
W3C XML Schema and the binding compiler will fail.
Compile myschema.xsd and place the generated
files under src/org/acme/foo:
<xjc schema="src/myschema.xsd" destdir="src" package="org.acme.foo"/>
Compile all XML Schema files in the src
directory and place the generated files under the appropriate packages
in the src directory:
<xjc destdir="src"> <schema dir="src" includes="*.xsd"/> </xjc>
Compile all XML Schema files in the src
directory together with binding files in the same directory and places
the generated files under the appropriate packages in the
src directory. This example assumes that binding
files contain package customizations. This example doesn't search
subdirectories of the src directory to look for
schema files.
<xjc destdir="src"> <schema dir="src" includes="*.xsd"/> <binding dir="src" includes="*.xjb"/> </xjc>
Compile abc.xsd with an up-to-date check.
Compilation only happens when abc.xsd is newer than
any of the files in the src/org/acme/foo directory
(and its impl subdirectory). Files in these two
directories will be wiped away before a compilation, so
don't add your own code in those directories.
Note that the additional mkdir task is necessary
because Ant's fileset requires the directory specified by the
dir attribute to exist.
<mkdir dir="src/org/acme/foo"/> <xjc destdir="src" schema="abc.xsd" removeOldOutput="yes" package="org.acme.foo"> <produces dir="src/org/acme/foo" includes="* impl/*"/> </xjc>
More complicated example of up-to-date check. In this example, we assume that you have a large set of schema documents that reference each other, with DTDs that describe the schema documents. An explicit <depends> is necessary so that when you update one of the DTDs, XJC will recompile your schema. But <depends> don't have to re-specify all the schema files, because you've already done that via <schema>.
<mkdir dir="src/org/acme/foo"/> <xjc destdir="src" removeOldOutput="yes" package="org.acme.foo"> <schema dir="schema" includes="*.xsd"/> <depends dir="schema" includes="*.dtd"/> <produces dir="build/generated-src/org/acme/foo" includes="**/*"/> </xjc>
Compile all XML Schema files in the src
directory and subdirectories, excluding files named
debug.xsd, and place the generated files under the
appropriate packages in the src directory. This
example also specifies the -nv option, which disables
the strict schema correctness checking:
<xjc destdir="src"> <schema dir="src" includes="**/*.xsd" excludes="**/debug.xsd"/> <arg value="-nv"/> </xjc>
If you depend on a proxy server to resolve the location of
imported or included schemas (as you might if you're behind a
firewall), you need to make the hostname and port number accessible to
the JVM hosting ant. Do this by setting the
environment variable ANT_OPTS to a string
containing the appropriate java options. For
example, from DOS:
> set ANT_OPTS=-Dhttp.proxyHost=webcache.east > set ANT_OPTS=%ANT_OPTS% -Dhttp.proxyPort=8080 > ant
The current schema generator can process either Java source files or class files.
We also provide an Ant task to run the schema generator - see the instructions for SchemaGen Ant Task.
The schema generator can be launched using the appropriate
schemagen shell script in the
bin directory for your platform.
If your java sources/classes reference other classes, they must
be accessable on your system CLASSPATH environment variable, or they
need to be given to the tool by using the -classpath/
-cp options. Otherwise you will see errors when
generating your schema.
Solaris/Linux
% path/to/jaxb/bin/schemagen.sh Foo.java Bar.java ... Note: Writing schema1.xsd
Windows
> path\to\jaxb\bin\schemagen.bat Foo.java Bar.java ... Note: Writing schema1.xsd
schemagen [OPTION]... <java files>
Usage: schemagen [-options ...] <java files>
Options:
-d <path> : specify where to place processor and javac generated class files
-cp <path> : specify where to find user specified files
-classpath <path> : specify where to find user specified files
-encoding <encoding> : specify encoding to be used for annotation processing/javac invocation
-episode <file> : generate episode file for separate compilation
-disableXmlSecurity : disables XML security features when parsing XML documents
-version : display version information
-fullversion : display full version information
-help : display this usage messageBy default, the schema generator will generate the content in the current directory. Use this option to specify an alternate output directory. The output directory must already exist, the schema generator will not create it for you.
Set the encoding name for generated sources,
such as EUC-JP or UTF-8. If -encoding is
not specified, the platform default encoding is
used.
Specify where to find client application class files.
Generates the "episode file", which is really just a Jakarta XML Binding customization file (but with vendor extensions). When people develop additional schemas that depend on what this schemagen invocation produces, they can use this episode file to have their generated code refer to your classes.
Display a brief summary of the generator switches.
Display the compiler version information.
Display the compiler full version information.
The current schema generator simply creates a schema file for each namespace referenced in your Java classes. There is no way to control the name of the generated schema files at this time. Use SchemaGen Ant Task for that purpose.
The jaxb-jxc.jar file contains the
SchemaGenTask.class file, which allows the schema
generator to be invoked from the Ant build tool. To
use SchemaGenTask, include the following statement
in your build.xml file:
<taskdef name="schemagen" classname="com.sun.tools.jxc.SchemaGenTask"> <classpath> <fileset dir="path/to/jaxb/lib" includes="*.jar"/> </classpath> </taskdef>
This maps SchemaGenTask to an Ant task named
schemagen. For detailed examples of using this
task, refer to the build.xml files used by the java to
schema Sample Apps.
ANT_OPTS - command-line arguments that should be passed to the JVM. For example, you can define system properties or set the maximum Java heap size here.
schemagen supports most of the attributes
defined by the
javac task, plus the following parameter attributes.
| Attribute | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Base directory to place the generated schema files | No |
| Works just like the nested <classpath> element | No |
| If specified, generate an episode file in the specified name. For more about the episode file, see -episode. | No |
xjc supports all the nested elements
defined by the
javac task, the following nested element parameters.
schemaControl the file name of the generated schema. This
element takes a mandatory namespace attribute and
a mandaotry file attribute. When this element is
present, the schema document generated for the specified
namespace will be placed in the specified file name.
The file name is interpreted as relative to the destdir attribute. In the absence of the destdir attribute, file names are relative to the project base directory. This element can be specified multiple times.
classpathA path-like structure that represents the classpath. If your Java sources/classes depend on other libraries, they need to be available in the classpath.
Generate schema files from source files in the src
dir and place them in the build/schemas directory.
<schemagen srcdir="src" destdir="build/schemas">
Compile a portion of the source tree.
<schemagen destdir="build/schemas"> <src path="src"/> <exclude name="Main.java"/> </schemagen>
Set schema file names.
<schemagen srcdir="src" destdir="build/schemas"> <schema namespace="http://myschema.acme.org/common" file="myschema-common.xsd"/> <schema namespace="http://myschema.acme.org/onion" file="myschema-onion.xsd"/> </schemagen>
To generate Jakarta XML Binding classes from an XML schema in Maven project, there are multiple community plugins available:
The most advanced and feature-full Maven plugin for XML Schema compilation: highsource maven-jaxb2-plugin
Example 98. Using highsource maven-jaxb2-plugin
<build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.jvnet.jaxb2.maven2</groupId> <artifactId>maven-jaxb2-plugin</artifactId> <executions> <execution> <goals> <goal>generate</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> </build>
See the maven-jaxb2-plugin user guide for configuration details.
A Maven plugin originating from MojoHaus which has been updated for Jakarta XML Binding 3+ by Evolved Binary: MojoHaus jaxb-maven-plugin
Example 99. Using MojoHaus jaxb-maven-plugin
<build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>com.evolvedbinary.maven.mojohaus</groupId> <artifactId>jaxb-maven-plugin</artifactId> <executions> <execution> <id>schemagen</id> <goals> <goal>schemagen</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> </build>
See the MojoHaus jaxb-maven-plugin documentation for configuration details.
A Maven plugin originating from java.net which has been updated for Jakarta XML Binding 3+ by Evolved Binary: jvnet jaxb-maven-plugin
Example 100. Using jvnet jaxb-maven-plugin
<build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>com.evolvedbinary.maven.jvnet</groupId> <artifactId>jaxb-maven-plugin</artifactId> <executions> <execution> <id>generate</id> <goals> <goal>generate</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> </build>
See the jvnet jaxb-maven-plugin documentation for configuration details.
Alternatively to community plugins, there are tooling artifacts jaxb-xjc and jaxb-jxc, which can be used for java from XML schema generation and vice versa.
Example 101. Using Eclipse Implementation of JAXB tooling artifacts
<!-- Tooling dependencies --> <dependency> <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId> <artifactId>jaxb-xjc</artifactId> <version>4.0.3</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId> <artifactId>jaxb-jxc</artifactId> <version>4.0.3</version> </dependency> <!-- Invoke tooling API (Java 11) --> <plugin> <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId> <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId> <!-- Generate java sources from schema --> <execution> <id>xjc</id> <goals> <goal>exec</goal> </goals> <configuration> <executable>java</executable> <arguments> <argument>--module-path</argument> <modulepath/> <argument>-m</argument> <argument>com.sun.tools.xjc</argument> <argument>-p</argument> <argument>com.example</argument> <argument>-d</argument> <argument>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources</argument> <argument>${project.build.directory}/classes/schema.xsd</argument> </arguments> </configuration> </execution> <!-- Generate XML Schema from sources --> <execution> <id>jxc</id> <goals> <goal>exec</goal> </goals> <configuration> <executable>java</executable> <arguments> <argument>--module-path</argument> <modulepath/> <argument>-m</argument> <argument>com.sun.tools.jxc</argument> <argument>-d</argument> <argument>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources</argument> <argument>${project.build.directory}/classes/com/example/Author.java</argument> <argument>${project.build.directory}/classes/com/example/Book.java</argument> </arguments> <longModulepath>false</longModulepath> </configuration> </execution> </executions> </plugin>
See also xml schema compiler usage.
schemagen and xjc command line scripts are available
only in the zip distribution.
Various people in the community have developed plugins for XJC that you can use today. These plugins allow you to enhance/alter the code generation of XJC in many different ways. See for example JAXB2 Basics Pligins.
Lexi has developed the HyperJAXB3 project for RDBMS persistence support for the Eclipse Implementation of JAXB.