jackson xml deserialize inline array

Question

How to deserialize such strange XML. In my opinion, the props-entity is missing (around the props), but I can\'t change the source of this XML (a web service).

Answer 1

It should be possible to handle "unwrapped" style of list elements with Jackson XML module 2.1, with @JacksonXmlElementWrapper(useWrapping=false).

Structure should be something like this:

@JacksonXmlRootElement(localName="parents")
public class Parents {
  @JacksonXmlElementWrapper(useWrapping=false)
  public List<Parent> parent;
}

public class Parent {
  @JacksonXmlProperty(isAttribute=true)
  public String name;

  public String description;

  @JacksonXmlElementWrapper(useWrapping=false)
  public List<Prop> prop;
}

public class Prop {
  @JacksonXmlProperty(isAttribute=true)
  public String name;

  public String value;
}

so your solution was quite close.

Note that if inner classes are used, they need to have 'static' in declaration. I tested this with 2.1.4, and it works for me.