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36.2. Using the XML Schema anyType Type

Overview

The XML Schema type xsd:anyType is the root type for all XML Schema types. All of the primitives are derivatives of this type, as are all user defined complex types. As a result, elements defined as being of xsd:anyType can contain data in the form of any of the XML Schema primitives as well as any complex type defined in a schema document.
In Java the closest matching type is the Object class. It is the class from which all other Java classes are sub-typed.

Using in XML Schema

You use the xsd:anyType type as you would any other XML Schema complex type. It can be used as the value of an element element's type element. It can also be used as the base type from which other types are defined.
Example 36.5, “Complex Type with a Wild Card Element” shows an example of a complex type that contains an element of type xsd:anyType.

Example 36.5. Complex Type with a Wild Card Element

<complexType name="wildStar">
  <sequence>
    <element name="name" type="xsd:string" />
    <element name="ship" type="xsd:anyType" />
  </sequence>
</complexType>

Mapping to Java

Elements that are of type xsd:anyType are mapped to Object objects. Example 36.6, “Java Representation of a Wild Card Element” shows the mapping of Example 36.5, “Complex Type with a Wild Card Element” to a Java class.

Example 36.6. Java Representation of a Wild Card Element

public class WildStar {

    @XmlElement(required = true)
    protected String name;
    @XmlElement(required = true)
    protected Object ship;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String value) {
        this.name = value;
    }

    public Object getShip() {
        return ship;
    }

    public void setShip(Object value) {
        this.ship = value;
    }
}
This mapping allows you to place any data into the property representing the wild card element. The Apache CXF runtime handles the marshaling and unmarshaling of the data into usable Java representation.

Marshalling

When Apache CXF marshals XML data into Java types, it attempts to marshal anyType elements into known JAXB objects. To determine if it is possible to marshal an anyType element into a JAXB generated object, the runtime inspects the element's xsi:type attribute to determine the actual type used to construct the data in the element. If the xsi:type attribute is not present, the runtime attempts to identify the element's actual data type by introspection. If the element's actual data type is determined to be one of the types known by the application's JAXB context, the element is marshaled into a JAXB object of the proper type.
If the runtime cannot determine the actual data type of the element, or the actual data type of the element is not a known type, the runtime marshals the content into a org.w3c.dom.Element object. You will then need to work with the element's content using the DOM APis.
An application's runtime usually knows about all of the types generated from the schema's included in its contract. This includes the types defined in the contract's wsdl:types element, any data types added to the contract through inclusion, and any types added to the contract through importing other schema documents. You can also make the runtime aware of additional types using the @XmlSeeAlso annotation which is described in Section 32.4, “Adding Classes to the Runtime Marshaller”.

Unmarshalling

When Apache CXF unmarshals Java types into XML data, it uses an internal map between Java data types and the XML Schema constructs they represent to determine the XML structure to write to the wire. If the runtime knows the class and can map the class to an XML Schema construct, it writes out the data and inserts an xsi:type attribute to identify the type of data the element contains. If the data is stored in a org.w3c.dom.Element object, the runtime writes the XML structure represented by the object but it does not include an xsi:type attribute.
If the runtime cannot map the Java object to a known XML Schema construct, it throws a marshaling exception. You can add types to the runtime's map using the @XmlSeeAlso annotation which is described in Section 32.4, “Adding Classes to the Runtime Marshaller”.