java.beans: public class: XMLEncoder

java.beans
public class: XMLEncoder [javadoc | source]

java.lang.Object
   java.beans.Encoder
      java.beans.XMLEncoder

All Implemented Interfaces:
AutoCloseable

The XMLEncoder class is a complementary alternative to the ObjectOutputStream and can used to generate a textual representation of a JavaBean in the same way that the ObjectOutputStream can be used to create binary representation of Serializable objects. For example, the following fragment can be used to create a textual representation the supplied JavaBean and all its properties:

      XMLEncoder e = new XMLEncoder(
                         new BufferedOutputStream(
                             new FileOutputStream("Test.xml")));
      e.writeObject(new JButton("Hello, world"));
      e.close();

Despite the similarity of their APIs, the XMLEncoder class is exclusively designed for the purpose of archiving graphs of JavaBeans as textual representations of their public properties. Like Java source files, documents written this way have a natural immunity to changes in the implementations of the classes involved. The ObjectOutputStream continues to be recommended for interprocess communication and general purpose serialization.

The XMLEncoder class provides a default denotation for JavaBeans in which they are represented as XML documents complying with version 1.0 of the XML specification and the UTF-8 character encoding of the Unicode/ISO 10646 character set. The XML documents produced by the XMLEncoder class are:

Portable and version resilient: they have no dependencies on the private implementation of any class and so, like Java source files, they may be exchanged between environments which may have different versions of some of the classes and between VMs from different vendors.
Structurally compact: The XMLEncoder class uses a redundancy elimination algorithm internally so that the default values of a Bean's properties are not written to the stream.
Fault tolerant: Non-structural errors in the file, caused either by damage to the file or by API changes made to classes in an archive remain localized so that a reader can report the error and continue to load the parts of the document which were not affected by the error.

Below is an example of an XML archive containing some user interface components from the swing toolkit:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<java version="1.0" class="java.beans.XMLDecoder">
<object class="javax.swing.JFrame">
  <void property="name">
    <string>frame1</string>
  </void>
  <void property="bounds">
    <object class="java.awt.Rectangle">
      <int>0</int>
      <int>0</int>
      <int>200</int>
      <int>200</int>
    </object>
  </void>
  <void property="contentPane">
    <void method="add">
      <object class="javax.swing.JButton">
        <void property="label">
          <string>Hello</string>
        </void>
      </object>
    </void>
  </void>
  <void property="visible">
    <boolean>true</boolean>
  </void>
</object>
</java>

The XML syntax uses the following conventions:

Each element represents a method call.
The "object" tag denotes an expression whose value is to be used as the argument to the enclosing element.
The "void" tag denotes a statement which will be executed, but whose result will not be used as an argument to the enclosing method.
Elements which contain elements use those elements as arguments, unless they have the tag: "void".
The name of the method is denoted by the "method" attribute.
XML's standard "id" and "idref" attributes are used to make references to previous expressions - so as to deal with circularities in the object graph.
The "class" attribute is used to specify the target of a static method or constructor explicitly; its value being the fully qualified name of the class.
Elements with the "void" tag are executed using the outer context as the target if no target is defined by a "class" attribute.
Java's String class is treated specially and is written <string>Hello, world</string> where the characters of the string are converted to bytes using the UTF-8 character encoding.

Although all object graphs may be written using just these three tags, the following definitions are included so that common data structures can be expressed more concisely:

The default method name is "new".
A reference to a java class is written in the form <class>javax.swing.JButton</class>.
Instances of the wrapper classes for Java's primitive types are written using the name of the primitive type as the tag. For example, an instance of the Integer class could be written: <int>123</int>. Note that the XMLEncoder class uses Java's reflection package in which the conversion between Java's primitive types and their associated "wrapper classes" is handled internally. The API for the XMLEncoder class itself deals only with Objects.
In an element representing a nullary method whose name starts with "get", the "method" attribute is replaced with a "property" attribute whose value is given by removing the "get" prefix and decapitalizing the result.
In an element representing a monadic method whose name starts with "set", the "method" attribute is replaced with a "property" attribute whose value is given by removing the "set" prefix and decapitalizing the result.
In an element representing a method named "get" taking one integer argument, the "method" attribute is replaced with an "index" attribute whose value the value of the first argument.
In an element representing a method named "set" taking two arguments, the first of which is an integer, the "method" attribute is replaced with an "index" attribute whose value the value of the first argument.
A reference to an array is written using the "array" tag. The "class" and "length" attributes specify the sub-type of the array and its length respectively.

For more information you might also want to check out Using XMLEncoder, an article in The Swing Connection.

Also see:

XMLDecoder

java.io.ObjectOutputStream

since: 1.4 -

author: Philip - Milne

Fields inherited from java.beans.Encoder:
executeStatements

Constructor:

Constructor:
public XMLEncoder(OutputStream out) { this(out, "UTF-8", true, 0); } Creates a new XML encoder to write out JavaBeans to the stream `out` using an XML encoding. Parameters: `out` - the stream to which the XML representation of the objects will be written Throws: `IllegalArgumentException` - if `out` is `null` Also see: XMLDecoder#XMLDecoder(InputStream)
public XMLEncoder(OutputStream out, String charset, boolean declaration, int indentation) { if (out == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("the output stream cannot be null"); } if (indentation < 0) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("the indentation must be >= 0"); } Charset cs = Charset.forName(charset); this.encoder = cs.newEncoder(); this.charset = charset; this.declaration = declaration; this.indentation = indentation; this.out = new OutputStreamWriter(out, cs.newEncoder()); valueToExpression = new IdentityHashMap< Object, ValueData >(); targetToStatementList = new IdentityHashMap< Object, List< Statement > >(); nameGenerator = new NameGenerator(); } Creates a new XML encoder to write out JavaBeans to the stream `out` using the given `charset` starting from the given `indentation`. Parameters: `out` - the stream to which the XML representation of the objects will be written `charset` - the name of the requested charset; may be either a canonical name or an alias `declaration` - whether the XML declaration should be generated; set this to `false` when embedding the contents in another XML document `indentation` - the number of space characters to indent the entire XML document by Throws: `IllegalArgumentException` - if `out` or `charset` is `null`, or if `indentation` is less than 0 `IllegalCharsetNameException` - if `charset` name is illegal `UnsupportedCharsetException` - if no support for the named charset is available in this instance of the Java virtual machine `UnsupportedOperationException` - if loaded charset does not support encoding Also see: Charset#forName(String) since: `1.7` -

 public XMLEncoder(OutputStream out) {
        this(out, "UTF-8", true, 0);
}

JavaBeans

out

Parameters:

out - the stream to which the XML representation of the objects will be written

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if out is null

Also see:

XMLDecoder#XMLDecoder(InputStream)

 public XMLEncoder(OutputStream out,
    String charset,
    boolean declaration,
    int indentation) {
        if (out == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("the output stream cannot be null");
        }
        if (indentation <  0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("the indentation must be  >= 0");
        }
        Charset cs = Charset.forName(charset);
        this.encoder = cs.newEncoder();
        this.charset = charset;
        this.declaration = declaration;
        this.indentation = indentation;
        this.out = new OutputStreamWriter(out, cs.newEncoder());
        valueToExpression = new IdentityHashMap< Object, ValueData >();
        targetToStatementList = new IdentityHashMap< Object, List< Statement > >();
        nameGenerator = new NameGenerator();
}

JavaBeans

out

charset

indentation

Parameters:

out - the stream to which the XML representation of the objects will be written

charset - the name of the requested charset; may be either a canonical name or an alias

declaration - whether the XML declaration should be generated; set this to false when embedding the contents in another XML document

indentation - the number of space characters to indent the entire XML document by

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if out or charset is null, or if indentation is less than 0

IllegalCharsetNameException - if charset name is illegal

UnsupportedCharsetException - if no support for the named charset is available in this instance of the Java virtual machine

UnsupportedOperationException - if loaded charset does not support encoding

Also see:

Charset#forName(String)

since: 1.7 -

Method from java.beans.XMLEncoder Summary:
clear, close, flush, getOwner, setOwner, writeExpression, writeObject, writeStatement

Methods from java.beans.Encoder:
clear, get, getAttribute, getExceptionListener, getPersistenceDelegate, getValue, remove, setAttribute, setExceptionListener, setPersistenceDelegate, writeExpression, writeObject, writeStatement

Methods from java.lang.Object:
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method from java.beans.XMLEncoder Detail:
void clear() { super.clear(); nameGenerator.clear(); valueToExpression.clear(); targetToStatementList.clear(); }
public void close() { flush(); writeln("< /java >"); try { out.close(); } catch (IOException e) { getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(e); } } This method calls `flush`, writes the closing postamble and then closes the output stream associated with this stream.
public void flush() { if (!preambleWritten) { // Don't do this in constructor - it throws ... pending. if (this.declaration) { writeln("< ?xml version=" + quote("1.0") + " encoding=" + quote(this.charset) + "? >"); } writeln("< java version=" + quote(System.getProperty("java.version")) + " class=" + quote(XMLDecoder.class.getName()) + " >"); preambleWritten = true; } indentation++; List< Statement > statements = statementList(this); while (!statements.isEmpty()) { Statement s = statements.remove(0); if ("writeObject".equals(s.getMethodName())) { outputValue(s.getArguments()[0], this, true); } else { outputStatement(s, this, false); } } indentation--; try { out.flush(); } catch (IOException e) { getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(e); } clear(); } This method writes out the preamble associated with the XML encoding if it has not been written already and then writes out all of the values that been written to the stream since the last time `flush` was called. After flushing, all internal references to the values that were written to this stream are cleared.
public Object getOwner() { return owner; } Gets the owner of this encoder.
public void setOwner(Object owner) { this.owner = owner; writeExpression(new Expression(this, "getOwner", new Object[0])); } Sets the owner of this encoder to `owner`.
public void writeExpression(Expression oldExp) { boolean internal = this.internal; this.internal = true; Object oldValue = getValue(oldExp); if (get(oldValue) == null \|\| (oldValue instanceof String && !internal)) { getValueData(oldValue).exp = oldExp; super.writeExpression(oldExp); } this.internal = internal; } Records the Expression so that the Encoder will produce the actual output when the stream is flushed. This method should only be invoked within the context of initializing a persistence delegate or setting up an encoder to read from a resource bundle. For more information about using resource bundles with the XMLEncoder, see http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/persistence4/#i18n
public void writeObject(Object o) { if (internal) { super.writeObject(o); } else { writeStatement(new Statement(this, "writeObject", new Object[]{o})); } } Write an XML representation of the specified object to the output.
public void writeStatement(Statement oldStm) { // System.out.println("XMLEncoder::writeStatement: " + oldStm); boolean internal = this.internal; this.internal = true; try { super.writeStatement(oldStm); /* Note we must do the mark first as we may require the results of previous values in this context for this statement. Test case is: os.setOwner(this); os.writeObject(this); */ mark(oldStm); Object target = oldStm.getTarget(); if (target instanceof Field) { String method = oldStm.getMethodName(); Object[] args = oldStm.getArguments(); if ((method == null) \|\| (args == null)) { } else if (method.equals("get") && (args.length == 1)) { target = args[0]; } else if (method.equals("set") && (args.length == 2)) { target = args[0]; } } statementList(target).add(oldStm); } catch (Exception e) { getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(new Exception("XMLEncoder: discarding statement " + oldStm, e)); } this.internal = internal; } Records the Statement so that the Encoder will produce the actual output when the stream is flushed. This method should only be invoked within the context of initializing a persistence delegate.

Method from java.beans.XMLEncoder Detail:

  void clear() {
        super.clear();
        nameGenerator.clear();
        valueToExpression.clear();
        targetToStatementList.clear();
}

 public  void close() {
        flush();
        writeln("< /java >");
        try {
            out.close();
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(e);
        }
}

flush

 public  void flush() {
        if (!preambleWritten) { // Don't do this in constructor - it throws ... pending.
            if (this.declaration) {
                writeln("< ?xml version=" + quote("1.0") +
                            " encoding=" + quote(this.charset) + "? >");
            }
            writeln("< java version=" + quote(System.getProperty("java.version")) +
                           " class=" + quote(XMLDecoder.class.getName()) + " >");
            preambleWritten = true;
        }
        indentation++;
        List< Statement > statements = statementList(this);
        while (!statements.isEmpty()) {
            Statement s = statements.remove(0);
            if ("writeObject".equals(s.getMethodName())) {
                outputValue(s.getArguments()[0], this, true);
            }
            else {
                outputStatement(s, this, false);
            }
        }
        indentation--;
        try {
            out.flush();
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(e);
        }
        clear();
}

flush

 public Object getOwner() {
        return owner;
}

Gets the owner of this encoder.

 public  void setOwner(Object owner) {
        this.owner = owner;
        writeExpression(new Expression(this, "getOwner", new Object[0]));
}

owner

 public  void writeExpression(Expression oldExp) {
        boolean internal = this.internal;
        this.internal = true;
        Object oldValue = getValue(oldExp);
        if (get(oldValue) == null || (oldValue instanceof String && !internal)) {
            getValueData(oldValue).exp = oldExp;
            super.writeExpression(oldExp);
        }
        this.internal = internal;
}

This method should only be invoked within the context of initializing a persistence delegate or setting up an encoder to read from a resource bundle.

For more information about using resource bundles with the XMLEncoder, see http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/persistence4/#i18n

 public  void writeObject(Object o) {
        if (internal) {
            super.writeObject(o);
        }
        else {
            writeStatement(new Statement(this, "writeObject", new Object[]{o}));
        }
}

Write an XML representation of the specified object to the output.

 public  void writeStatement(Statement oldStm) {
        // System.out.println("XMLEncoder::writeStatement: " + oldStm);
        boolean internal = this.internal;
        this.internal = true;
        try {
            super.writeStatement(oldStm);
            /*
               Note we must do the mark first as we may
               require the results of previous values in
               this context for this statement.
               Test case is:
                   os.setOwner(this);
                   os.writeObject(this);
            */
            mark(oldStm);
            Object target = oldStm.getTarget();
            if (target instanceof Field) {
                String method = oldStm.getMethodName();
                Object[] args = oldStm.getArguments();
                if ((method == null) || (args == null)) {
                }
                else if (method.equals("get") && (args.length == 1)) {
                    target = args[0];
                }
                else if (method.equals("set") && (args.length == 2)) {
                    target = args[0];
                }
            }
            statementList(target).add(oldStm);
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
            getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(new Exception("XMLEncoder: discarding statement " + oldStm, e));
        }
        this.internal = internal;
}

This method should only be invoked within the context of initializing a persistence delegate.