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WebLogic Web Services: Getting Started

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Data Types and Data Binding

The following sections provide information about supported data types (both built-in and user-defined) and data binding:

WARNING: Although both JAX-RPC 1.1 and JAX-WS 2.0 are supported in this release of WebLogic Server, this document concentrates almost exclusively on describing how to create JAX-RPC style Web Services. This is because, in this release, all the WS-* specifications (such as WS-Security and WS-ReliableMessaging) and WebLogic value-added features (such as asynchronous request-response and callbacks) work only with JAX-RPC style Web Services. Therefore, unless otherwise stated, you should assume that all descriptions and examples are for JAX-RPC Web Services. In the case of supported data types and data binding, for example, this document does not describe how to use JAXB.
Note: For specific information about creating JAX-WS Web Services and JAXB, see Implementing a JAX-WS 2.0 Web Service.

 

Overview of Data Types and Data Binding

As in previous releases, WebLogic Web Services support a full set of built-in XML Schema, Java, and SOAP types, as specified by the JAX-RPC 1.1 specification, that you can use in your Web Service operations without performing any additional programming steps. Built-in data types are those such as integer, string, and time.

Additionally, you can use a variety of user-defined XML and Java data types, including Apache XmlBeans (in package org.apache.xmlbeans), as input parameters and return values of your Web Service. User-defined data types are those that you create from XML Schema or Java building blocks, such as <xsd:complexType> or JavaBeans. The WebLogic Web Services Ant tasks, such as jwsc and clientgen, automatically generate the data binding artifacts needed to convert the user-defined data types between their XML and Java representations. The XML representation is used in the SOAP request and response messages, and the Java representation is used in the JWS that implements the Web Service. The conversion of data between its XML and Java representations is called data binding.

WARNING: As of WebLogic Server 9.1, using XMLBeans 1.X data types (in other words, extensions of com.bea.xml.XmlObject) as parameters or return types of a WebLogic Web Service is deprecated. New applications should use XMLBeans 2.x data types.

 

Supported Built-In Data Types

The following sections describe the built-in data types supported by WebLogic Web Services and the mapping between their XML and Java representations. As long as the data types of the parameters and return values of the back-end components that implement your Web Service are in the set of built-in data types, WebLogic Server automatically converts the data between XML and Java.

If, however, you use user-defined data types, then you must create the data binding artifacts that convert the data between XML and Java.WebLogic Server includes the jwsc and wsdl2c Ant tasks that can automatically generate the data binding artifacts for most user-defined data types. See Supported User-Defined Data Types for a list of supported XML and Java data types.

XML-to-Java Mapping for Built-In Data Types

The following table lists the supported XML Schema data types (target namespace http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema) and their corresponding Java data types.

For a list of the supported user-defined XML data types, see Java-to-XML Mapping for Built-In Data Types.

Table 7-1 Mapping XML Schema Data Types to Java Data Types
XML Schema Data Type
Equivalent Java Data Type
(lower case indicates a primitive data type)
boolean
boolean
byte
byte
short
short
int
int
long
long
float
float
double
double
integer
java.math.BigInteger
decimal
java.math.BigDecimal
string
java.lang.String
dateTime
java.util.Calendar
base64Binary
byte[]
hexBinary
byte[]
duration
java.lang.String
time
java.util.Calendar
date
java.util.Calendar
gYearMonth
java.lang.String
gYear
java.lang.String
gMonthDay
java.lang.String
gDay
java.lang.String
gMonth
java.lang.String
anyURI
java.net.URI
NOTATION
java.lang.String
token
java.lang.String
normalizedString
java.lang.String
language
java.lang.String
Name
java.lang.String
NMTOKEN
java.lang.String
NCName
java.lang.String
NMTOKENS
java.lang.String[]
ID
java.lang.String
IDREF
java.lang.String
ENTITY
java.lang.String
IDREFS
java.lang.String[]
ENTITIES
java.lang.String[]
nonPositiveInteger
java.math.BigInteger
nonNegativeInteger
java.math.BigInteger
negativeInteger
java.math.BigInteger
unsignedLong
java.math.BigInteger
positiveInteger
java.math.BigInteger
unsignedInt
long
unsignedShort
int
unsignedByte
short
Qname
javax.xml.namespace.QName

Java-to-XML Mapping for Built-In Data Types

For a list of the supported user-defined Java data types, see Supported Java User-Defined Data Types.

Table 7-2 Mapping Java Data Types to XML Schema Data Types
Java Data Type (lower case indicates a primitive data type)
Equivalent XML Schema Data Type
int
int
short
short
long
long
float
float
double
double
byte
byte
boolean
boolean
char
string (with facet of length=1)
java.lang.Integer
int
java.lang.Short
short
java.lang.Long
long
java.lang.Float
float
java.lang.Double
double
java.lang.Byte
byte
java.lang.Boolean
boolean
java.lang.Character
string (with facet of length=1)
java.lang.String
string
java.math.BigInteger
integer
java.math.BigDecimal
decimal
java.util.Calendar
dateTime
java.util.Date
dateTime
byte[]
base64Binary
javax.xml.namespace.QName
Qname
java.net.URI
anyURI

 

Supported User-Defined Data Types

The tables in the following sections list the user-defined XML and Java data types for which the jwsc and wsdlc Ant tasks can automatically generate data binding artifacts, such as the corresponding Java or XML representation, the JAX-RPC type mapping file, and so on.

If your XML or Java data type is not listed in these tables, and it is not one of the built-in data types listed in Supported Built-In Data Types, then you must create the user-defined data type artifacts manually.

Supported XML User-Defined Data Types

The following table lists the XML Schema data types supported by the jwsc and wsdlc Ant tasks and their equivalent Java data type or mapping mechanism.

For details and examples of the data types, see the JAX-RPC specification.

Table 7-3 Supported User-Defined XML Schema Data Types
XML Schema Data Type
Equivalent Java Data Type or Mapping Mechanism
<xsd:complexType> with elements of both simple and complex types.
JavaBean
<xsd:complexType> with simple content.
JavaBean
<xsd:attribute> in <xsd:complexType>
Property of a JavaBean
Derivation of new simple types by restriction of an existing simple type.
Equivalent Java data type of simple type.
Facets used with restriction element.
Facets not enforced during serialization and deserialization.
<xsd:list>
Array of the list data type.
Array derived from soapenc:Array by restriction using the wsdl:arrayType attribute.
Array of the Java equivalent of the arrayType data type.
Array derived from soapenc:Array by restriction.
Array of Java equivalent.
Derivation of a complex type from a simple type.
JavaBean with a property called _value whose type is mapped from the simple type according to the rules in this section.
<xsd:anyType>
java.lang.Object
<xsd:any>
javax.xml.soap.SOAPElement or org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlObject
<xsd:any[]>
javax.xml.soap.SOAPElement[] or org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlObject[]
<xsd:union>
Common parent type of union members.
<xsi:nil> and <xsd:nillable> attribute
Java null value.
If the XML data type is built-in and usually maps to a Java primitive data type (such as int or short), then the XML data type is actually mapped to the equivalent object wrapper type (such as java.lang.Integer or java.lang.Short).
Derivation of complex types
Mapped using Java inheritance.
Abstract types
Abstract Java data type.

Supported Java User-Defined Data Types

The following table lists the Java user-defined data types supported by the jwsc and wsdlc Ant tasks and their equivalent XML Schema data type.

Table 7-4 Supported User-Defined Java Data Types
Java Data Type
Equivalent XML Schema Data Type
JavaBean whose properties are any supported data type.
<xsd:complexType> whose content model is a <xsd:sequence> of elements corresponding to JavaBean properties.
Array and multidimensional array of any supported data type (when used as a JavaBean property)
An element in a <xsd:complexType> with the maxOccurs attribute set to unbounded.
java.lang.Object

Note: The data type of the runtime object must be a known type.
<xsd:anyType>
Apache XMLBeans (that are inherited from org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlObject only)

Note: A Web Service that uses an Apache XMLBeans data type as a return type or parameter must be defined as document-literal-wrapped or document-literal-bare.
See Apache XMLBeans.
java.util.Collection
Literal Array
java.util.List
Literal Array
java.util.ArrayList
Literal Array
java.util.LinkedList
Literal Array
java.util.Vector
Literal Array
java.util.Stack
Literal Array
java.util.Set
Literal Array
java.util.TreeSet
Literal Array
java.utils.SortedSet
Literal Array
java.utils.HashSet
Literal Array

Note: The following user-defined Java data type, used as a parameter or return value of a WebLogic Web Service in Version 8.1, is no longer supported:
Note: Additionally, generics are not supported when used as a parameter or return value. For example, the following Java method cannot be exposed as a public operation:
Note: public ArrayList<String> echoGeneric(ArrayList<String> in) {
return in;
}

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