Java Language JAXB Specifying a XmlAdapter instance to (re)use existing data

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Example

Sometimes specific instances of data should be used. Recreation is not desired and referencing static data would have a code smell.

It is possible to specify a XmlAdapter instance the Unmarshaller should use, which allows the user to use XmlAdapters with no zero-arg constructor and/or pass data to the adapter.

Example

User class

The following class contains a name and a user's image.

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAttribute;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlJavaTypeAdapter;

@XmlRootElement
public class User {
    
    private String name;
    private BufferedImage image;

    @XmlAttribute
    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(value=ImageCacheAdapter.class)
    @XmlAttribute
    public BufferedImage getImage() {
        return image;
    }

    public void setImage(BufferedImage image) {
        this.image = image;
    }

    public User(String name, BufferedImage image) {
        this.name = name;
        this.image = image;
    }

    public User() {
        this("", null);
    }

}

Adapter

To avoid creating the same image in memory twice (as well as downloading the data again), the adapter stores the images in a map.

Java SE 7

For valid Java 7 code replace the getImage method with

public BufferedImage getImage(URL url) {
    BufferedImage image = imageCache.get(url);
    if (image == null) {
        try {
            image = ImageIO.read(url);
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(ImageCacheAdapter.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
            return null;
        }
        imageCache.put(url, image);
        reverseIndex.put(image, url);
    }
    return image;
}
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter;

public class ImageCacheAdapter extends XmlAdapter<String, BufferedImage> {

    private final Map<URL, BufferedImage> imageCache = new HashMap<>();
    private final Map<BufferedImage, URL> reverseIndex = new HashMap<>();

    public BufferedImage getImage(URL url) {
        // using a single lookup using Java 8 methods
        return imageCache.computeIfAbsent(url, s -> {
            try {
                BufferedImage img = ImageIO.read(s);
                reverseIndex.put(img, s);
                return img;
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                Logger.getLogger(ImageCacheAdapter.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
                return null;
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public BufferedImage unmarshal(String v) throws Exception {
        return getImage(new URL(v));
    }

    @Override
    public String marshal(BufferedImage v) throws Exception {
        return reverseIndex.get(v).toExternalForm();
    }

}

Example XMLs

The following 2 xmls are for Jon Skeet and his earth 2 counterpart, which both look exactly the same and therefore use the same avatar.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<user name="Jon Skeet" image="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/6d8ebb117e8d83d74ea95fbdd0f87e13?s=328&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=PG"/>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<user name="Jon Skeet (Earth 2)" image="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/6d8ebb117e8d83d74ea95fbdd0f87e13?s=328&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=PG"/>

Using the adapter

ImageCacheAdapter adapter = new ImageCacheAdapter();

JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(User.class);

Unmarshaller unmarshaller = context.createUnmarshaller();

// specifiy the adapter instance to use for every
// @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(value=ImageCacheAdapter.class)
unmarshaller.setAdapter(ImageCacheAdapter.class, adapter);

User result1 = (User) unmarshaller.unmarshal(Main.class.getResource("user.xml"));

// unmarshal second xml using the same adapter instance
Unmarshaller unmarshaller2 = context.createUnmarshaller();
unmarshaller2.setAdapter(ImageCacheAdapter.class, adapter);
User result2 = (User) unmarshaller2.unmarshal(Main.class.getResource("user2.xml"));

System.out.println(result1.getName());
System.out.println(result2.getName());

// yields true, since image is reused
System.out.println(result1.getImage() == result2.getImage());


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