when does JAXB unmarshaller.unmarshal returns a JAXBElement or a MySchemaObject?

Question

I have two codes, in two different java projects, doing almost the same thing, (unmarshalling the input of a webservice according to an xsd-file).

But in one case I

Answer 1

It depends on the presence of XmlRootElement annotation on the class of your root element.

If you generate your JAXB classes from an XSD, the following rules are applied:

• if the type of the root element is an anonymous type -> XmlRootElement annotation is added to the generated class
• if the type of the root element is a top level type -> XmlRootElement annotation is omitted from the generated class

For that reason I often choose anonymous types for root elements.

You can customize the class name of this anonymous type with a customization file. E.g. create a bindings.xjc file like this: