Spring MVC 3.2 - XStreamAlias Ignored - spring-mvc

Question

Person.java:
#XStreamAlias("person")
public class Person {
#XStreamAlias("id")
private Long personProfileId;
private String lastName;
private String firstName;
private String middleName;
private String nameSuffix;
private String namePrefix;
// etc ...
}
Spring configuration:
<bean id="contentNegotiationManager"
class="org.springframework.web.accept.ContentNegotiationManagerFactoryBean">
<property name="favorPathExtension" value="false" />
<property name="favorParameter" value="true" />
<property name="ignoreAcceptHeader" value="true" />
<property name="useJaf" value="false" />
<property name="defaultContentType" value="application/xml" />
<property name="mediaTypes">
<map>
<entry key="json" value="application/json" />
<entry key="xml" value="application/xml" />
</map>
</property>
</bean>
<bean
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.ContentNegotiatingViewResolver">
<property name="order" value="1" />
<property name="contentNegotiationManager" ref="contentNegotiationManager" />
<property name="defaultViews">
<list>
<bean
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.json.MappingJacksonJsonView" />
<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.xml.MarshallingView">
<constructor-arg>
<bean class="org.springframework.oxm.xstream.XStreamMarshaller" />
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
</list>
</property>
</bean>
<mvc:annotation-driven
content-negotiation-manager="contentNegotiationManager" />
A call to http://mycompany.com:8080/myapp/persons?format=xml returns:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<list>
<com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<personProfileId>1</personProfileId>
<lastName>McCartney</lastName>
<firstName>James</firstName>
<middleName>Paul</middleName>
</com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<personProfileId>2</personProfileId>
<lastName>Lennon</lastName>
<firstName>John</firstName>
<middleName>Winston</middleName>
</com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<personProfileId>3</personProfileId>
<lastName>Starkey</lastName>
<firstName>Richard</firstName>
</com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<com.example.myapp.model.Person>
<personProfileId>4</personProfileId>
<lastName>Harrison</lastName>
<firstName>George</firstName>
</com.example.myapp.model.Person>
</list>
I would expect it to return:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<list>
<Person>
<id>1</id>
<lastName>McCartney</lastName>
<firstName>James</firstName>
<middleName>Paul</middleName>
</Person>
<Person>
<id>2</id>
<lastName>Lennon</lastName>
<firstName>John</firstName>
<middleName>Winston</middleName>
</Person>
<Person>
<id>3</id>
<lastName>Starkey</lastName>
<firstName>Richard</firstName>
</Person>
<Person>
<id>4</id>
<lastName>Harrison</lastName>
<firstName>George</firstName>
</Person>
</list>
It seems like XStream is correctly being called to marshall the object to XML, but that the #XStreamAlias annotations are being ignored. Is there some further configuration needed to get this to work?

Answer 1

I was trying to figure out this same thing (though with a Spring Boot project) and found an alternative: autodetectAnnotations.
xstreamMarshaller.setAutodetectAnnotations(true);
See this project, add the above line to the Application.java.

Answer 2

Figured it out. The annotated classes need to be explicitly identified to the XStreamMarshaller.
<property name="defaultViews">
<list>
<bean
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.json.MappingJacksonJsonView" />
<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.xml.MarshallingView">
<constructor-arg>
<bean class="org.springframework.oxm.xstream.XStreamMarshaller">
<property name="annotatedClasses">
<array>
<value>com.example.myapp.model.Person</value>
</array>
</property></bean>
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
</list>
</property>

Answer 3

As per XStream documentation https://x-stream.github.io/annotations-tutorial.html
you have to use xstream.processAnnotations(MyPOJO.class);