How to alias the data type using XStream?

Question

I want to convert the object in to xml where it requires to give the alias for String data type. For example:

public class ArrayTest
{
   private int id=4;
   public String area[];
   public void setArea(String ar[])
  {
    area = ar;
  }
}

Object to xml Conversion class is like:

public class Test
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
       String area[] = {"ABC","XYZ","PRQ"};
       ArrayTest at = new ArrayTest();
       at.setArea(area);
       Xstream stream = new XStream(new staxDriver());
       stream.alias("response",ArrayTest.class);
       System.out.println(stream.toXML(at));
  }
}

I'm getting output as :

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<response>
  <id>4</id>
  <area>
    <string>ABC</string>
    <string>XYZ</string>
    <string>PRQ</string>
  </area>
</response>

But I want out output as:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<response>
  <id>4</id>
  <area>
    <code>ABC</code>
    <code>XYZ</code>
    <code>PRQ</code>
  </area>
</response>

I'm new to XStream, Kindly help me out

Answer 1

I think this could work:

First add a getter for area

public class ArrayTest {
    private int id = 4;
    private String[] area; 

    public void setArea(String ar[]) {
        area = ar;
    }

    public String[] getArea() { 
        return area;
    }
}

Then add a NamedArrayConverter Converter:

public static void main(String args[]) {
    String area[] = { "ABC", "XYZ", "PRQ" };
    ArrayTest at = new ArrayTest();
    at.setArea(area);
    XStream stream = new XStream();
    stream.alias("response",ArrayTest.class);
    stream.registerConverter(new NamedArrayConverter(at.getArea().getClass(), null, "code"));
    System.out.println(stream.toXML(at));
}

This is the output:

<response>
  <id>4</id>
  <area>
    <code>ABC</code>
    <code>XYZ</code>
    <code>PRQ</code>
  </area>
</response>