How can I use XStream to persist complicated Java Object to XML & backward

Question

Dear Sir:
I met a problem as demo in my code below when i use XTream to persist my Java Object;
How can I use XStream to persist complicated Java Object to XML & backward??
See
[1] main code
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import com.thoughtworks.xstream.XStream;
import com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.DomDriver;
public class PhoneList {
     ArrayList<PhoneNumber> phones;
     ArrayList<Person> person;
     private PhoneList myphonelist ;
     private LocationTest location;
     private PhoneList(String name) {
     phones = new ArrayList<PhoneNumber>();
     person = new ArrayList<Person>();
     public ArrayList<PhoneNumber> getphones() {
          return phones;
     public ArrayList<Person> getperson() {
          return person;
     public void addPhoneNumber(PhoneNumber b1) {
          this.phones.add(b1);
     public void removePhoneNumber(PhoneNumber b1) {
          this.phones.remove(b1);
     public void addPerson(Person p1) {
          this.person.add(p1);
     public void removePerson(Person p1) {
          this.person.remove(p1);
     public void BuildList(){
          location = new LocationTest();
          XStream xstream = new XStream();
          myphonelist = new PhoneList("PhoneList");
          Person joe = new Person("Joe, Wallace");
          joe.setPhone(new PhoneNumber(123, "1234-456"));
          joe.setFax(new PhoneNumber(123, "9999-999"));
          Person geo= new Person("George Nixson");
          geo.setPhone(new PhoneNumber(925, "228-9999"));
          geo.getPhone().setLocationTest(location);          
          myphonelist.addPerson(joe);
          myphonelist.addPerson(geo);
     public PhoneList(){
          XStream xstream = new XStream();
          BuildList();
          saveStringToFile("C:\\temp\\test\\PhoneList.xml",convertToXML(myphonelist));
     public void saveStringToFile(String fileName, String saveString) {
          BufferedWriter bw = null;
          try {
               bw = new BufferedWriter(
                         new FileWriter(fileName));
               try {
                    bw.write(saveString);
               finally {
                    bw.close();
          catch (IOException ex) {
               ex.printStackTrace();
          //return saved;
     public String getStringFromFile(String fileName) {
          BufferedReader br = null;
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
          try {
               br = new BufferedReader(
                         new FileReader(fileName));
               try {
                    String s;
                    while ((s = br.readLine()) != null) {
                         // add linefeed (\n) back since stripped by readline()
                         sb.append(s + "\n");
               finally {
                    br.close();
          catch (Exception ex) {
               ex.printStackTrace();
          return sb.toString();
     public  String convertToXML(PhoneList phonelist) {
          XStream xstream = new  XStream(new DomDriver());
          xstream.setMode(xstream.ID_REFERENCES) ;
          return xstream.toXML(phonelist);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          new PhoneList();
}[2].
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class PhoneNumber implements Serializable{
       private      String      phone;
       private      String      fax;
       private      int      code;
       private      String      number;
       private      String      address;
       private      String      school;
       private      LocationTest      location;
       public PhoneNumber(int i, String str) {
            setCode(i);
            setNumber(str);
            address = "4256, Washington DC, USA";
            school = "Washington State University";
     public Object getPerson() {
          return null;
     public void setPhone(String phone) {
          this.phone = phone;
     public String getPhone() {
          return phone;
     public void setFax(String fax) {
          this.fax = fax;
     public String getFax() {
          return fax;
     public void setCode(int code) {
          this.code = code;
     public int getCode() {
          return code;
     public void setNumber(String number) {
          this.number = number;
     public String getNumber() {
          return number;
     public void setLocationTest(LocationTest bd) {
          this.location = bd;
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(location);
        f.getContentPane().add(location.getControls(), "Last");
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        f.setVisible(true);
     public LocationTest getLocationTest() {
          return location;
     }[3].
package test.temp;
import java.io.Serializable;
public class Person implements Serializable{
     private String           fullname;
       @SuppressWarnings("unused")
     private PhoneNumber      phone;
       @SuppressWarnings("unused")
     private PhoneNumber      fax;
     public Person(){
     public Person(String fname){
            fullname=fname;           
     public void setPhone(PhoneNumber phoneNumber) {
          phone = phoneNumber;
     public void setFax(PhoneNumber phoneNumber) {
          fax = phoneNumber;
     public PhoneNumber getPhone() {
          return phone ;
     public PhoneNumber getFax() {
          return fax;
    public String getName() {
        return fullname ;
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.fullname      = name;
    public String toString() {
        return getName();
}[4]. LocationTest.java
package test.temp;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class LocationTest extends JPanel implements ChangeListener
    Ellipse2D.Double ball;
    Line2D.Double    line;
    JSlider          translate;
    double           lastTheta = 0;
    public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e)
        JSlider slider = (JSlider)e.getSource();
        String name = slider.getName();
        int value = slider.getValue();
        if(name.equals("rotation"))
            tilt(Math.toRadians(value));
        else if(name.equals("translate"))
            moveBall(value);
        repaint();
    protected void paintComponent(Graphics g)
        super.paintComponent(g);
        Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
        g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                            RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        if(ball == null)
            initGeom();
        g2.setPaint(Color.green.darker());
        g2.draw(line);
        g2.setPaint(Color.red);
        g2.fill(ball);
    private void initGeom()
        int w = getWidth();
        int h = getHeight();
        int DIA = 30;
        int padFromEnd = 5;
        line = new Line2D.Double(w/4, h*15/16, w*3/4, h*15/16);
        double x = line.x2 - padFromEnd - DIA;
        double y = line.y2 - DIA;
        ball = new Ellipse2D.Double(x, y, DIA, DIA);
        // update translate slider values
        int max = (int)line.getP1().distance(line.getP2());
        translate.setMaximum(max);
        translate.setValue(max-padFromEnd);
    private void tilt(double theta)
        // rotate line from left end
        Point2D pivot = line.getP1();
        double lineLength = pivot.distance(line.getP2());
        Point2D.Double p2 = new Point2D.Double();
        p2.x = pivot.getX() + lineLength*Math.cos(theta);
        p2.y = pivot.getY() + lineLength*Math.sin(theta);
        line.setLine(pivot, p2);
        // find angle from pivot to ball center relative to line
        // ie, ball center -> pivot -> line end
        double cx = ball.getCenterX();
        double cy = ball.getCenterY();
        double pivotToCenter = pivot.distance(cx, cy);
        // angle of ball to horizon
        double dy = cy - pivot.getY();
        double dx = cx - pivot.getX();
        // relative angle phi = ball_to_horizon - last line_to_horizon
        double phi = Math.atan2(dy, dx) - lastTheta;
        // rotate ball from pivot
        double x = pivot.getX() + pivotToCenter*Math.cos(theta+phi);
        double y = pivot.getY() + pivotToCenter*Math.sin(theta+phi);
        ball.setFrameFromCenter(x, y, x+ball.width/2, y+ball.height/2);
        lastTheta = theta;  // save theta for next time
    private void moveBall(int distance)
        Point2D pivot = line.getP1();
        // ball touches line at distance from pivot
        double contactX = pivot.getX() + distance*Math.cos(lastTheta);
        double contactY = pivot.getY() + distance*Math.sin(lastTheta);
        // find new center location of ball
        // angle lambda = lastTheta - 90 degrees (anti-clockwise)
        double lambda = lastTheta - Math.PI/2;
        double x = contactX + (ball.width/2)*Math.cos(lambda);
        double y = contactY + (ball.height/2)*Math.sin(lambda);
        ball.setFrameFromCenter(x, y, x+ball.width/2, y+ball.height/2);
    JPanel getControls()
        JSlider rotate = getSlider("rotation angle", "rotation", -90, 0, 0, 5, 15);
        translate = getSlider("distance from end",  "translate", 0, 100, 100,25, 50);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
        panel.add(rotate);
        panel.add(translate);
        return panel;
    private JSlider getSlider(String title, String name, int min, int max,
                              int value, int minorSpace, int majorSpace)
        JSlider slider = new JSlider(JSlider.HORIZONTAL, min, max, value);
        slider.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(title));
        slider.setName(name);
        slider.setPaintTicks(true);
        slider.setMinorTickSpacing(minorSpace);
        slider.setMajorTickSpacing(majorSpace);
        slider.setPaintLabels(true);
        slider.addChangeListener(this);
        return slider;
}OK, My questions are:
[1]. what I generated XML by XSTream is very complicated, especially for object LocationTest, Can we make it as simple as others such as Person object??
[2]. after I run it, LocationTest will popup and a red ball in a panel will dsiplay, after I change red ball's position, I hope to persist it to xml, then when I read it back, I hope to get same picture, ie, red ball stiil in old position, How to do that??
Thanks a lot!!

Answer 1

Positive feedback? Then please take this in a positive way: if you want to work on persisting Java objects into XML, then GUI programming is irrelevant to that goal. The 1,000 lines of code you posted there appeared to me to have a whole lot of GUI code in it. You should produce a smaller (much smaller) example of what you want to do. Calling the working code from your GUI program should come later.