Generating C# classes from XML schema that use JAXB (Java Architecture for XML Binding)

Question

I have a number of XML schema that use JAXB (Java Architecture for XML Binding) markup, similar to the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:jxb="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jaxb" jxb:version="1.0">
  <xs:element name="H">
    <xs:annotation>
      <xs:appinfo>
        <jxb:class name="Header" />
      </xs:appinfo>
    </xs:annotation>
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element ref="X" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
          <xs:annotation>
            <xs:appinfo>
              <jxb:property name="SessionControl"/>
            </xs:appinfo>
          </xs:annotation>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
  <xs:element name="X" type="xs:string">
    <xs:annotation>
      <xs:appinfo>
        <jxb:class name="SessionControl"/>
      </xs:appinfo>
    </xs:annotation>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

From these I need to generate C# classes.

Running xsd.exe on the above schema generates the following (some attributes removed for clarity):

[XmlRoot(Namespace = "", IsNullable = false)]
public partial class H
{
    private string xField;

    public string X
    {
        get { return this.xField; }
        set { this.xField = value; }
    }
}

Clearly this is not ideal - I need to take account of the jxb:class and jxb:property markup in the schema, giving me a class that uses the more readable jxb names, but that serializes to the single-character elements/attributes specified in the schema.

e.g.

[XmlRoot(Namespace = "", IsNullable = false, ElementName = "H")]
public partial class Header
{
    private string xField;

    [XmlElement(ElementName = "X")]
    public string SessionControl
    {
        get { return this.xField; }
        set { this.xField = value; }
    }
}

Is there any reasonable route to achieving this?

Answer 1

I know that on the java side, it is possible to tell the jaxb processor about the extra binding information in three different ways:

1. In the xsd itself like you presented in your question.
2. In a separate xml file that the tool uses.
3. In annotations on the java classes themselves.

All these ways are semantically equivalent - so strictly speaking, the <jxb> tags are not part of the xsd contract. One could use options 2. or 3. above to construct slightly different java code but with the same xsd and wsdl contract.

I expect a similar mechanism to exist within the toolset on .NET side. I suggest that you lookup the reference for xsd.exe and related information, to see what support is there for the customization of the generated code (sorry I can't assist more, I am not familiar with this tool).

Answer 2

The approach we used for this in the end was to just do the work manually - from the xsd.exe generated C# source, using the xsd files as a reference.