JAXB vs Apache XMLBeans

Question

Anyone can tell me which one is better (JAXB or Apache XMLBeans) taking in account the performance for files bigger than 10Mb?

Atypical

As a side note to developers: currently XMLBeans project is officially retired and active development is ceased. Pay attention to the message on top of the Apache XMLBeans home page (quote): "2014/05/23 - Apache XMLBeans has been retired. For more information, please explore the Apache Attic." – Pecan

XMLBeans came back from attic it seams... Project Apache XMLBeans was in the Attic from July 2013 until June 2018. – Chewning

Answer 1

Both have similar performances, however even if Apache XMLBeans seems to present better performance, I normally choose JAXB because I don't want to increase the size of my applications with 3rd party tools.

With Apache XMLBeans you need a small package around 2mb, it's probably easy to learn and well documented. Have full support of XSD specification and namespaces, and mapping only via XML Schema Definition (XSD). It also seems to use deprecated API’s.

Margaux

I'm trying to create a webstart application so the size of the final application is very important and probably the heaviest factor in my decision since the difference in performance is not too big. – Atypical

Answer 2

The architect of XmlBeans wrote about why he chose to build XmlBeans, even though JAXB was the established standard. Take a look at his blog, specifically the problems with jaxb The most compelling advantage was type substitution.

Hake

The problems with jaxb blog post is in reference to JAXB 1 (JSR-31). JAXB 2 (JSR-222) is leaps and bounds better. This is due in part to contributions made by David Bau who was a member of the JAXB 2 expert group. – Howbeit

Answer 3

I prefer XMLBeans, because it comes with a handy tool called "inst2xsd" which allows you to generate an XML schema from an XML instance document. JAXB is not able to do this.

See http://xmlbeans.apache.org/docs/2.0.0/guide/tools.html#inst2xsd

Searcy

JAXB 2 can generate XML Schemas, see download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17409_01/javase/6/docs/api/javax/… – Howbeit

JAXB 2 cannot generate schema from xml. The schemagen tool only generates schema from java classes. – Horten

See #7212564 :) – Peevish

@everlasto: As Kamran pointed out, the comment is about generation from XML instance files. – Cabbage