Java XML Binding (aka JAXB) is part of many applications since it provides a convenient API to marshall/unmarshall Java to/from XML. Like so many area, the devil is in the detail, like when one has to unmarshall a JAXB-incompatible class. Such classes come across one’s code for a variety of reasons: design, legacy, third-party…​ Suffice to say that such a sand grain can be a blocker for any project.

JAXB is a bridge between the Java and the XML worlds, enabling your code to transparently marshalls and unmarshalls your Java objects to and from XML. In order to do this, you should have a class representing your XML-Schema. This class is created by the xjc. In most cases, xjc creates a class that won’t suit your needs. In this article, we’ll see why it does so and what we can do to customize this behaviour.