XML data binding: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:15, 5 June 2013

Revision as of 17:51, 22 June 2013

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When this process is applied to convert an XML document to an object, it is called [[Serialization|unmarshalling]]. The reverse process, to serialize an object as XML, is called [[marshalling (computer science)|marshalling]].

Since XML is inherently sequential and objects are (usually) not, XML data binding mappings often have difficulty preserving all the information in an XML document. Specifically, information like [[comment (computer programming)|comment]]s, XML entity references, and sibling order may fail to be preserved in the object representation created by the binding application. This is not always the case; sufficiently complex data binders are capable of preserving 100% of the information in an XML document.

Similarly, since objects in computer memory are not inherently sequential, and may include links to other objects (including self-referential links), XML data binding mappings often have difficulty preserving all the information about an object when it is marshalled to XML.