Can JAXB handle java.time objects?

Question

I know JAXB (Java Architecture for XML Binding) can marshal/unmarshal java.util.Date objects as seen in this answer by Blaise Doughan.

But what about the new java.ti

Answer 1

We couldn't use the library linked in the accepted answer as it glosses over an important detail: In XML Schema date/time values allow the timezone offset to be missing. An adapter must be able to handle this situation. Also, the fact that Java doesn't have a date-only datatype must be supported.

jTextTime library solves this.

The library revolves around the JDK8 OffsetXXX date/time classes as these are the (only) natural equivalent for the XML Schema types date, dateTime and time.

Use like this:

Add dependency:

    com.addicticks.oss
    jtexttime
     ... latest ...

Annotate your classes:

public class Customer {

    @XmlElement
    @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(OffsetDateTimeXmlAdapter.class)
    @XmlSchemaType(name="dateTime")
    public OffsetDateTime getLastOrderTime() {
        ....
    }

    @XmlElement
    @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(OffsetDateXmlAdapter.class)
    @XmlSchemaType(name="date")
    public OffsetDateTime getDateOfBirth() {   // returns a date-only value
        ....
    }
}

If you don't want to annotate each class individually then you can use package-level annotations as explained here.

If you generate Java classes from XSD files using the xjc tool then this is also explained.