XML to POJOs Advantages - @Converter

One of the poorest things in XML binding is when the binding framework generates classes from your XSD where you would have used a normal JDK class. For example, consider the following:


<schedule>
  <appointment>
    <date>
      <day>3</day>
      <month>4</month>
      <year>2005</year>
    </date>
    <desc>Meet Omer and Tal</desc>
  </appointment>
  <appointment>
    <date>
      <day>23</day>
      <month>12</month>
      <year>2005</year>
     </date>
    <desc>Joanna is coming</desc>
  </appointment>
</schedule>


Surely I wouldn't want it to create a class for the <date> element, but for it to use the Calendar (javadoc) class!

Well, that's exactly what @Converter does. The X2J framework provides you with an Assigner interface, which will receive all the XML elements related to the parsing of the member annotated with @Converter, and will be responsible to assign the values derived from the XML into the non X2J-annotated Java class.

Related Topics
XML to POJOs Advantages - Repeating Types
Possible advantages of X2J - Primary Keys