SimpleFramework XML nested objects

Question

I'm trying to use the simpleframework to serialize a third party (parasoft) xml report.

<TestSuite authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" pass="42" total="42">
  <TestSuite authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" name="Test Suite: APIs">
    <TestSuite authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0">
      <Test authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" />
      <Test authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" id="wk:///2" name="Test 2: GetControlParams" pass="1" tool="GetControlParams" total="1" />
    </TestSuite>
    <TestSuite authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0">
      <Test authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" name="Test 1: GetHouseInfo" pass="1" tool="GetHouseInfo" total="1" />
      <Test authChange="" authFail="" change="0" changePass="0" changeTotal="0" fail="0" name="Test 2: GetHouseInfo" pass="1" tool="GetHouseInfo" total="1" />
    </TestSuite>
  </TestSuite>
</TestSuite>

How do I handle the recursive relationship for TestSuite?

I've tried

@Element(name = "TestSuite", required = false)
private TestSuite testSuite;

@ElementList(inline = true, entry = "Test", required = false)
private List<Test> test;

@ElementList(inline = true, entry = "TestSuite", required = false)
private List<TestSuite> testSuites;

But am running up against the error

Exception in thread "main" org.simpleframework.xml.core.PersistenceException: Duplicate annotation of name 'TestSuite' on field 'testSuites' private java.util.List TestSuite.testSuites

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

I've tried [...] But am running up against the error

This is intended: You have two annotations with the same (tag-)name but different types. Which one should the serializer choose?

---

There are two issues to address:

1. Elements have some required and some optional arguments (Solution: use required argument of simples annotations)
2. Nested TestSuite elements

I have reduced the problem a bit for this answer. Let's assume a Xml like this:

<TestSuite change="1" name="suite lvl 2">
    <TestSuite change="0">
        <Test name="test1" />
        <Test name="test2" fail="0" />
    </TestSuite>
</TestSuite>

The trick to this: use @ElementListUnion and some kind of Interface (or abstract base class)

---

The code to this:

TestEntry (just an Interface)

public interface TestEntry
{
}

TestCase

@Root(name = "Test")
public class TestCase implements TestEntry
{
    @Attribute(required = false)
    private int fail;
    @Attribute
    private String name;

    // Getter etc.
}

TestSuite

@Root(name = "TestSuite")
public class TestSuite implements TestEntry
{
    @Attribute
    private int change;
    @Attribute(required = false)
    private String name;
    @ElementListUnion({
        @ElementList(inline = true, required = false, type = TestCase.class, name = "TestCase"),
        @ElementList(inline = true, required = false, type = TestSuite.class, name = "TestSuite")
    })
    private List<TestEntry> content;

    // Getter etc.
}

You see the trick? Now you can have either a TestCase or TestSuite in that list.

Finally, you can add the outer TestSuite and - of course - complete the attributes.

Btw. if you run into trouble deciding whether an elements is of Type X or Y - a Converter is still an option (but more to write manually).