com.thoughtworks.xstream.annotations

Annotation Type XStreamConverter

@Retention(value=RUNTIME)
 @Target(value={TYPE,FIELD})
 @Documented
public @interface XStreamConverter

Annotation to declare a converter. The annotation supports additionally the injection of various constructor arguments provided by XStream:

• Mapper: The current mapper chain of the XStream instance.
• ClassLoaderReference: The reference to the class loader used by the XStream instance to deserialize the objects.
• ReflectionProvider: The reflection provider used by the reflection based converters of the current XStream instance.
• ConverterLookup: The lookup for converters handling a special type.
• All elements provided with the individual arrays of this annotation. The provided values follow the declaration sequence if a constructor requires multiple arguments of the same type.
• Class: The type of the element where the annotation is declared. Note, that this argument is not supported when using XStreamConverters or useImplicitType() == false.
• JVM: Utility e.g. to load classes.
• ClassLoader (deprecated since 1.4.5): The class loader used by the XStream instance to deserialize the objects. Use ClassLoaderReference as argument

The algorithm will try the converter's constructor with the most arguments first.

Note, the annotation matches a ConverterMatcher. Converter as well as SingleValueConverter extend this interface. The AnnotationMapper can only handle these two known types.

Author:

Chung-Onn Cheong, Jörg Schaible

Required Element Summary

Required Elements

Modifier and Type	Required Element and Description
java.lang.Class<? extends ConverterMatcher>	value

Optional Element Summary

Optional Elements

Modifier and Type	Optional Element and Description
boolean[]	booleans
byte[]	bytes
char[]	chars
double[]	doubles
float[]	floats
int[]	ints
long[]	longs
java.lang.Class<?>[]	nulls Provide null types as arguments for the converter's constructor arguments.
int	priority
short[]	shorts
java.lang.String[]	strings
java.lang.Class<?>[]	types Provide class types as arguments for the converter's constructor arguments.
boolean	useImplicitType Flag to provide the current type as implicit first Class argument to a converter's constructor.

Element Detail

value

public abstract java.lang.Class<? extends ConverterMatcher> value

priority

public abstract int priority

Default:

0

useImplicitType

public abstract boolean useImplicitType

Flag to provide the current type as implicit first Class argument to a converter's constructor.

Returns:

true if the current type is provided

Since:

1.4.5

Default:

true

types

public abstract java.lang.Class<?>[] types

Provide class types as arguments for the converter's constructor arguments.

Note, that XStream itself provides the current class type as first Class argument to a constructor, if the annotation is added directly to a class type (and not as part of a parameter declaration of a XStreamConverters annotation). The current type has precedence over any type provided with this method. This behavior can be overridden setting useImplicitType() to false.

Returns:

the types

Since:

1.4.2

Default:

{}

strings

public abstract java.lang.String[] strings

Default:

{}

bytes

public abstract byte[] bytes

Default:

{}

chars

public abstract char[] chars

Default:

{}

shorts

public abstract short[] shorts

Default:

{}

ints

public abstract int[] ints

Default:

{}

longs

public abstract long[] longs

Default:

{}

floats

public abstract float[] floats

Default:

{}

doubles

public abstract double[] doubles

Default:

{}

booleans

public abstract boolean[] booleans

Default:

{}

nulls

public abstract java.lang.Class<?>[] nulls

Provide null types as arguments for the converter's constructor arguments.

Returns:

the types provided as null values

Since:

1.4.9

Default:

{}