Deserializing polymorphic classes using Simple XML

Question

I need to deserialize xml which is result of polymorphic classes. Below are 2 examples.

Example 1:

<Root>
  <TYPE>TYPE1</TYPE>
  <Data>
    <data1>fdfdf</data1>
    <data2>dfdfdf<data2>
  </Data>
</Root>

Example 2:

<Root>
  <TYPE>TYPE2</TYPE>
  <Data>
   <data3>fdfdf</data1>
  <data4>dfdfdf<data2>
  </Data>
</Root>

My java class structure is

class Root {
 String  TYPE ;
 Data data;

}

class Data {
}

class DataType1 extends Data{
  data1;
  data2;
}

class DataType2 extends Data{
  data3;
  data4;
}

Root.TYPE in xml could be used to determine if the data in xml is for for DataType1 or DataType2. XML does not provide any "class" attribute for tag.

I was trying various Strategy classes from simple xml but could not make it work.

Do you have any suggestion how/which strategy or other classes I should use so that I could correctly parse the xml and create proper object's of DataType1 OR DataType2 during deserialization.

Thanks,

Tushar

Have you thought about simply reading the value of type in XML and using a switch statement. — Ali Khalid, Mar 14 '12 at 16:19
My intention is to generate correct object of class DataType1 or DataType2 when parsing of XML is completed. When I try to parse xml with current class structure I get error message "org.simpleframework.xml.core.ElementException: Element 'data1' does not have a match in class com.test.xml.Data at line 1" — Tushar, Mar 15 '12 at 08:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 14 '12 at 16:55

1

As @alykhalid said in the comment you should consider to use simple if-else or switch statement.

answered Mar 14 '12 at 16:55

alexsmail

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Deserializing polymorphic classes using Simple XML

1 Answers1