Exception "javax.xml.bind.UnmarshalException: unexpected element ..." thrown when mapping XML to Java using JAXB

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • We are using JAXB to map XML to Java objects in my application like the following:
String xml = ...
JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance("com.example.app.model");
Unmarshaller unmarshaller = context.createUnmarshaller();
unmarshaller.unmarshal(IOUtils.toInputStream(xml, "UTF-8"));
  • However, we get the following "javax.xml.bind.UnmarshalException: unexpected element ..." exception:
Caused by: javax.xml.bind.UnmarshalException: unexpected element (uri:"http://model.app.example.com", local:"MyData1"). Expected elements are <{}MyData1>,<{}MyData2>,<{}MyData3>[, ...]
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext.handleEvent(UnmarshallingContext.java:642)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportError(Loader.java:254)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportError(Loader.java:249)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.Loader.reportUnexpectedChildElement(Loader.java:116)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext$DefaultRootLoader.childElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:1049)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext._startElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:478)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallingContext.startElement(UnmarshallingContext.java:459)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.InterningXmlVisitor.startElement(InterningXmlVisitor.java:71)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.SAXConnector.startElement(SAXConnector.java:148)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.unmarshaller.DOMScanner.visit(DOMScanner.java:239)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.unmarshaller.DOMScanner.scan(DOMScanner.java:122)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.unmarshaller.DOMScanner.scan(DOMScanner.java:105)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal0(UnmarshallerImpl.java:317)
    at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.unmarshaller.UnmarshallerImpl.unmarshal(UnmarshallerImpl.java:297)
    at com.example.app.actions.MyAction.process(MyAction.java:106)
    ... 14 more

Environment

  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP)
    • 5
    • 6
  • Red Hat JBoss SOA Platform (SOA-P)
    • 5
  • JAXB

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase of over 48,000 articles and solutions.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In
Close

Welcome! Check out the Getting Started with Red Hat page for quick tours and guides for common tasks.