A Guide to XML in Java

1. Overview

This is a guide to working with XML in Java.

We'll go over the most common Java XML processing libraries – for both parsing and binding.

2. DOM Parsers

Simply put, a DOM parser works on the entire XML document, loads it into memory and constructs a tree representation of the document.

Useful Resources

• How to read XML file in Java – (DOM Parser)
• Java DOM Parser – Parse XML Document
• Java XML DOM Parser Example Tutorial
• Easy DOM Parsing in Java

3. SAX Parser

A SAX parser is an event-based parser – it parses the XML document using callbacks without loading the whole document into memory.

Useful Resources

• How to read XML file in Java – (SAX Parser)
• Java SAX Parser – Parse XML Document
• How to parse an xml using SAX parser and DefaultHandler
• XML parsing using SaxParser
• Java SAX Parser Example Tutorial to parse XML to List of Objects

4. StAX Parser

A StAX Parser is median between DOM and SAX parser.

Useful Resources

• How to read XML File in Java using Java StAX Iterator API
• Java StAX Parser – Parse XML Document

5. JAXB

JAXB – Java Architecture for XML Binding – is used to convert objects from/to XML.

JAXB is a part of the Java SE platform and one of the APIs in Jakarta EE.

Useful Resources

• Oracle JAXB Tutorial
• JAXB Hello World Example
• JAXB Tutorial for Java XML Binding – The ULTIMATE Guide
• JAXB Tutorial
• JAXB Marshal Example
• JAXB Unmarshal Example
• How to convert Java Object to XML – JAXB Example
• JAXB example: Marshalling and Unmarshalling HashMap in java
• JAXB exmaple: Marshalling and Unmarshalling list or set of objects
• JAXB Annotations
• JAXB and Namespace Prefixes
• JAXB and Inheritance – Using XmlAdapter

6. XStream

XStream is a simple library to serialize objects to/from XML.

Here's the maven dependency to use to get it into a Maven enabled project:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.thoughtworks.xstream</groupId>
    <artifactId>xstream</artifactId>
    <version>1.4.8</version>
</dependency>

Useful Resources

• Official Website
• Github
• Javadoc
• Two Minute Tutorial
• XStream – XStreamely Easy Way to Work With XML Data in Java
• XStream – Java to XML and Back

7. Jackson XML

Jackson XML is an extension of Jackson JSON processor for reading and writing XML encoded data.

In order to use it – here's the simple Maven dependency you'll need:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
    <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-xml</artifactId>
    <version>${jackson.version}</version>
</dependency>

Note: Latest version of jackson-dataformat-xml right now is 2.6.3.

Useful Resources

• Official Website
• Github
• Jackson XML databind Wiki
• Jackson XML annotations

8. Simple XML

Simple XML is a high performance XML serialization framework for Java.

In order to use it you need the following dependency:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.simpleframework</groupId>
    <artifactId>simple-xml</artifactId>
    <version>${simple-xml.version}</version>
</dependency>

Note: Latest version of Simple XML right now is 2.7.1.

Useful Resources

• Official Website
• Simple XML Tutorial
• Javadoc

9. Conclusion

This was a quick intro to the XML ecosystem in Java. Use this as a guide to learn more about doing XML work and getting a high level view of the Java XML landscape.