Issues Serializing Java Objects to XML with JAXB and Custom Date Formatting
I've searched everywhere and can't find a clear answer. I'm facing a problem while trying to serialize Java objects to XML using JAXB. Specifically, I need to format a `java.util.Date` field in a specific way (YYYY-MM-DD) when it gets serialized. I've annotated my date field with `@XmlSchemaType(name = "date")`, but the output is still in the default format (e.g., `Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 UTC 2023`). I've tried to implement a custom `XmlAdapter` to handle the format, but I keep running into issues. Here's what I've implemented so far: ```java import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlAdapter; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Date; public class DateAdapter extends XmlAdapter<String, Date> { private final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"); @Override public Date unmarshal(String dateString) throws Exception { return dateFormat.parse(dateString); } @Override public String marshal(Date date) throws Exception { return date == null ? null : dateFormat.format(date); } } ``` Then, I've annotated my field like this: ```java import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement; import javax.xml.bind.annotation.adapters.XmlJavaTypeAdapter; public class Event { private Date eventDate; @XmlElement(name = "date") @XmlJavaTypeAdapter(DateAdapter.class) public Date getEventDate() { return eventDate; } public void setEventDate(Date eventDate) { this.eventDate = eventDate; } } ``` However, when I marshal the `Event` object and output it to XML, the date still appears in the default format. Here’s the marshalling code: ```java import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext; import javax.xml.bind.Marshaller; Event event = new Event(); event.setEventDate(new Date()); JAXBContext context = JAXBContext.newInstance(Event.class); Marshaller marshaller = context.createMarshaller(); marshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true); marshaller.marshal(event, System.out); ``` I am using JAXB 2.3.1 with Java 8. Is there something I'm missing in the configuration, or is there a specific reason why the custom formatting doesn't take effect? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! For context: I'm using Java on Linux. Is there a better approach?