writing xml to a file

[marouanemeft]

Hi,
I have 4 or 5 classes that are related to each other this way:
Installation class has domains
Domain class has users
User class has objects ..

I would like to write a method that will write an xml representation of this containership to a file.

right now I have a writeXML method that returns a string for each object. and the writeXML of the top classes (like Installation) just call the writeXML of the subclasses (like User).

Is there a better way to do this?

Thank you all in advance.

 

[timw]

If your classes conform to the JavaBeans specification then you have a very easy option in using the java.beans.XMLEncoder class to write the top-most class to file. All the contained classes will be included in the resulting file. The XMLEncoder class has a sample code snippet to get you started. You use the corresponding XMLDecoder class to re-create your User classes from previously written files.

The resulting XML is more aimed at object persistence than human readablility, however.

Tim
---------------------------
"Your morbid fear of losing,
destroys the lives you're using." - Ozzy

 

[sedj]

You may want to look at JAXB - its kind of what you are after I think, but its quite a heavyweight approach :

http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/jaxb/index.html

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http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[timw]

Now who's going 'one better'...

Tim
---------------------------
"Your morbid fear of losing,
destroys the lives you're using." - Ozzy