JAXB: Problem generating java enums

Question

Hi
I'm having som problems configuring JAXB to generate type safe enums. The schema I'm using has several structures similar to this simplified example:
    <xs:element name="Car">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element name="CarTypeEnumInComplexType">
                    <xs:simpleType>
                        <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                            <xs:enumeration value="Truck"/>
                            <xs:enumeration value="Jeep"/>
                            <xs:enumeration value="SUV"/>
                        </xs:restriction>
                    </xs:simpleType>
                </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>In the resulting Java code CarTypeEnumInComplexType is just generated as a String value in the Car Interface.
What I really want is a separate Java class for "CarTypeEnumInComplexType" - with constants for each enumeration value.
However, I do not want to change the schema - as this is maintained by another company.
For a moment I thought I'd found the solution: By setting the global binding setting "typesafeEnumBase" to "xs:string" I made JAXB generate this kind of enumeration classes in cases like this:
<xs:simpleType name="CarTypeEnum">
        <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
            <xs:enumeration value="Truck"/>
            <xs:enumeration value="Jeep"/>
            <xs:enumeration value="SUV"/>
        </xs:restriction>
    </xs:simpleType>However, I still can't make this work for enumerations nested within a complex type as illustrated in the first example.
I'm new to XML schemas and JAXB - so I may be missing something obvious here...
Is there any way to make JAXB generate an enum class for "CarTypeEnumInComplexType" in my first example without altering the schema structure?
Vidar

Answer 1

Well I couldnt really find any clear documentation to this , however with this post I was able to get going in the right direction I thought I would post the solution here.
This assumes you have some control of your schema , it doesnt solve the problem where you cant touch the schema at all.
So first my bindings.xjb file looks like:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<jxb:bindings version="1.0" xmlns:jxb="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jaxb" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xjc="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jaxb/xjc" jxb:extensionBindingPrefixes="xjc">
     <jxb:bindings schemaLocation="CMSOSS.xsd" node="/xs:schema">
          <jxb:globalBindings typesafeEnumBase ="xs:string">
               <xjc:serializable uid="12343"/>
          </jxb:globalBindings>
          <jxb:schemaBindings>
               <jxb:package name="com.cms.oss"/>
               <jxb:nameXmlTransform>
                    <jxb:elementName suffix="Element"/>
               </jxb:nameXmlTransform>
          </jxb:schemaBindings>
     </jxb:bindings>
</jxb:bindings>
First its necessary to have the enum type defined outside of the complex type:
<xs:simpleType name="serviceTypeEnum">
          <xs:annotation>
               <xs:documentation>Type of service being added (RES, BUS, FAX, POTS)</xs:documentation>
          </xs:annotation>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
               <xs:enumeration value="RES"/>
               <xs:enumeration value="BUS"/>
               <xs:enumeration value="FAX"/>
               <xs:enumeration value="POTS"/>
          </xs:restriction>
     </xs:simpleType>
Then you can use the enum in your complex type in the following manner
     <xs:element name="service">
          <xs:annotation>
               <xs:documentation>Create a service tag for each new line of service</xs:documentation>
          </xs:annotation>
          <xs:complexType>
               <xs:sequence>
                    <xs:element ref="phone"/>
                    <xs:element name="type" type="serviceTypeEnum">
                         <xs:annotation>
                              <xs:documentation>Type of service being added (RES, BUS, FAX, POTS)
                              </xs:documentation>
                         </xs:annotation>
                    </xs:element>
                    <xs:element ref="lineDevice"/>
                    <xs:element ref="LNP" minOccurs="0"/>
                    <xs:element ref="VMPIN"/>
                    <xs:element ref="location"/>
                    <xs:element name="userService" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
               </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
     </xs:element>
Some better documentation on this would sure help ... however I dont think this solves completely the original problem...
I would think that type safe enums should be built into the specification without all this custom binding stuff.
R
S