> In particular:
> XML has this notion of an "element". What does this mean in
> java? Is this simply a class?
>
> XML has this notion of attributes. What is an attribute in
> java? A member field?
>
I can only speak from examining the results of throwing a relatively simple
schema at the binding compiler, but from that it seems to me:
1) Elements are interfaces, for which the binding compiler also generates
an
implementation, about which, in the fine object-oriented tradition, you
should
avoid thinking about. Elements that are of a simple type as set forth
by the
XML Schema standard may be reduced to a Java type like String.
2) Attributes result in get and set methods emerging on the interface
representing
the element possessing the attributes. These methods take an argument
of as
simple a Java type as the binding compiler things it can get away with.
Put
another way, the arguments to these methods are not objects unless they
need to be.
Numbers, at least, seem to wind up as basic Java data types like long.
That's probably a vast oversimplification, but as I say, my needs of the
moment are pretty simple. I also am in the position of not having to
develop a schema, but having had one handed to me...
DFW