Package org.simpleframework.xml
Annotation Interface ElementUnion
The
ElementUnion
annotation is used to describe fields
and methods that can dynamically match a schema class. Each union
can have a number of different XML class schemas matched based on
an XML element name or the instance type. This provides a means
of expressing a logical OR. By annotating a field or method as a
union it can take multiple forms. For example.
@ElementUnion({ @Element(name="circle", type=Circle.class), @Element(name="square", type=Square.class) }) private Shape shape;For the above definition the
Shape
field can take
be any of the declared types. On deserialization the name of the
element will determine the type that is instantiated and the XML
structure to be consumed. For serialization the instance type will
determine the name of the element the object will serialized as.
This provides a useful means of consume more complicated sources.- See Also:
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Required Element Summary
Required Elements
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Element Details
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value
Element[] valueThis provides theElement
annotations that have been defined for this union. Each element describes the XML class schema to use and the name of the XML element. This allows the serialization process to determine which elements map to the defined types. Also, the types define how the XML is generated for a given instance.- Returns:
- the elements defined for the union declaration
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