Running XBinder from the Command-line

The XBinder distribution contains a command-line compiler executable as well as a graphical user interface (GUI) wizard that can aid in the specification of compiler options. This section describes how to run the command-line version; the operation of the GUI is described in the online help files built into the wizard.

To test if XBinder was successfully installed, enter xbinder with no parameters as follows (note: if you have not updated your PATH variable, you will need to enter the full pathname):

   xbinder

You should observe the following display (or something similar):

XBinder Compiler, Version 2.2.x
Copyright (c) 2002-2011 Objective Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
            
Usage: xbinder <filename> options
               
   <filename>         XML schema or WSDL source file name(s).
                           Multiple filenames may be specified.
                           * and ? wildcards are allowed.
                  
   Language options (choose only one):
      -c                 Generate C code
      -c++ or -cpp       Generate C++ code
      -c# or -csharp     Generate C# code
      -java              Generate Java code
                  
   Basic options:
      -xml               Generate XML encode/decode functions
      -config <file>     Specify schema bindings file.
      -o <directory>     Output file directory
      -I <directory>     Import file directory
      -all               Compile all dependent files
      -warnings          Output compiler warning messages
      -compat <version>  Generate code compatible with previous
                              compiler version. <version> format is 
                              x.x (for example, 1.0)
                                 
   Options to reduce amount of generated code:
      -lax               Generate code that does lax error checking
      -noderiv           Do not generate special derived type code
                                 
   Options to alter generated code:
      -namespace         Specify a namespace prefix for all generated items
      -nodatestamp       Do not put date stamp in header
      -nomixed           Do not generate string structure for mixed content
      -elemCasing <value> Set element name case to lower/upper
      -typeCasing <value> Set type name case to lower/upper
                                       
   Options for the generation of additional code:
      -genPrint or
      -print             Generate print functions
                                       
   C/C++ basic options:
      -dom               Generate DOM encode/decode functions (C only)
      -json              Generate JSON encode/decode functions (C only)
      -sax               Generate SAX-based decoders (default is pull-parser)
      -modularize        Handle included schemas as separate modules
      -nodecode          Do not generate decode functions
      -noencode          Do not generate encode functions
      -trace             Add trace diag msgs to generated code
                                       
   C/C++ options to reduce amount of generated code:
      -compact           Generate compact code
      -nocopy            Do not generate copy methods (C++ only)
      -noheader          Do not add code to encode XML header (<? xml ...)
      -noxmlns           Do not generate code to support XML namespaces
                                          
   C/C++ options to alter generated code:
      -borland           Generate special code for Borland C++ compiler
      -c14n              Generate C14N format encode functions
      -cppns <ns>        Add given C++ namespace to generated code (C++ only)
      -derivModel <model>  Set the derivation model to extended/interface
      -fragments         Generate code to encode XML fragments
                           (start element, contents, end element)
      -initlists         Generate code that initializes lists to default
                           (when possible)
      -noEncDefault      Do not add schema default/fixed values to XML instance
      -noDefaultNs       Do not use default namespace in XML instance
      -noNamedBits       Do not generate named bits for EnumList, 
                           use regular list instead
      -numDateTime       Use numeric structures for all date/time types
      -pdu <element>     Designate element to be a PDU
      -project <prj_name> Set project name
      -soap, -soap12     Generate code to format/parse SOAP v1.2 messages
      -soap11            Generate code to format/parse SOAP v1.1 messages
      -static            Generate code that uses static memory
                           (when possible, C only)
      -strict            Generate code that does strict syntax checking
      -useNSPfx          Use XSD namespace prefixes in C/C++ code
      -useflteq          Use float equality functions to ignore rounding
                           errors in floating-point comparisons
      -usestl            Use C++ Standard Template Library (STL)
                           (currently, only STL string type is used)
                                          
   C/C++ options for the generation of additional code:
      -genWriter         Generate writer test program
      -genReader         Generate reader test program
      -genFree           Generate memory free functions (C only)
      -genFactory        Generate Factory functions
      -genRWTest         Generate read/write test program
      -genStubs          Generate SOAP client stub functions from WSDL
      -genSkel           Generate SOAP skeleton server program from WSDL
      -genClient         Generate web service client test program from WSDL
      -genSSLClient      Generate a secure HTTP client test program using OpenSSL
      -genSSLStubs       Generate secure HTTP stub functions using OpenSSL
      -genTest [<xmlfile>]  Generate test code.  If XML instance provided,
                                  this will be used; otherwise, random data
      -genValid          Generate validation functions
      -usePDU <element>  Use PDU for writer/reader test program
      -w32               Use with '-genMake' to generate Windows NMAKE file
                           (default = GNU)
                                          
   C/C++ options for makefile or project generation:
      -genMake           Generate makefile 
      -genMakeLib [<libname>]  Generate code in makefile to put all objects
                                    into a static library 
      -genMakeDLL [<dllname>]  Generate code in makefile to build shared object
      -genvcproj [version]   Generate Visual Studio C/C++ project files
                               [version] is 2012, 2010, 2008, 2005, 2003 (Windows only)
      -makeopts <dynamiclib | staticlib | multithreaded>
           Use compilation options for dynamic, static, and multithreaded
           libraries.
                                          
   C/C++ compression options:
      -zip               Add code to generated reader/writer to use
                           standard gzip compression (requires zlib install)
                                          
   C# extra options:
      -csfile <name>     Specifies one .cs file for all generated code
                              Set <name> to '*.cs' for one .cs file per .xsd file
      -csnsname <name>   Name for C# namespace
      -csnspfx <prefix>  C# namespace names will be this prefix, followed by 
                               schema name
      -genMake           Generate makefile
      -genvcproj <version>   Generate Visual Studio C# project files
                               <version> is 2012, 2010, 2008, 2005 (Windows only)
      -genWriter         Generate writer test program
      -genReader         Generate reader test program
      -usePDU <element>  Use PDU for writer/reader test program
                                          
   Java extra options:
      -pkgname <name>    Name for Java package
      -pkgpfx <prefix>   Java package names will be this prefix, followed by 
                              schema name
      -genMake           Generate Apache Ant buildfile (build.xml)
      -genWriter         Generate writer test program
      -genReader         Generate reader test program
      -usePDU <element>  Use PDU for writer/reader test program
      -xpp               Use XmlPull API rather than StAX (StAX is default)
    

To use the compiler, at a minimum, a single XSD source file must be provided along with at least one set of encoding rules and a target output language. The current version of XBinder supports the generation of C (-c option), C++ (-cpp option), C# (-c# or -csharp) and Java (-java) source code. For C# and Java, XBinder supports the generation of code to encode/decode XML (-xml).

The source file specification can be a full pathname or only what is necessary to qualify the file. If directory information is not provided, the user's current default directory is assumed. Multiple source filenames may be specified on the command line to compile a set of files. The wildcard characters ‘*’ and ‘?’ are also allowed in source filenames (for example, the command ‘xbinder *.xsd -c -xml’ will compile all XSD files in the current working directory).

The source file specification can be a full pathname or only what is necessary to qualify the file. If directory information is not provided, the user's current default directory is assumed. Multiple source filenames may be specified on the command line to compile a set of files. The wildcard characters ‘*’ and ‘?’ are also allowed in source filenames (for example, the command ‘xbinder *.xsd -c -xml’ will compile all XSD files in the current working directory).

The following table lists all of the command line options (those relevant to C# or Java) in alphabetical order and what they are used for:

Option Argument Description
-all None Generate code for all dependent files in a given compilation. This includes the main XSD files specified on the command line as well as all imported and included schema files.
-csfile *.cs or a specific .cs file name If valued with *.cs, indicates that XBinder is to generate one .cs file for each .xsd file processed. If valued with a specific .cs file name, indicates that XBinder is to generate one .cs file to hold all code. Do not specify any folder information in the -csfile value; use the -o qualifier instead.
-c# -csharp None Generate C# code
-compat <version> Generate code that is compatible with an older version of the XBinder compiler. The format of the version number is "n.n" (for example, 1.0). As of XBinder 2.0, this has no meaning for C# or Java code generation, but it may be applicable in the future.
-config <filename> This option is used to specify the name of a file containing configuration information for the source file being parsed. This is similar to the ‘binding schema’ used with some other XML data binding applications
-csnsname <name> Provides a C# namespace name. All classes will be generated into this namespace.
-csnspfx <prefix> Provides a prefix for C# namespace names. Each class will be generated into a namespace named <prefix>.<schema>, where <schema> is based on the name of the XSD file from which the class was generated.
-elemCasing lower or upper

This option is used to change the case of the first letter in element names in the generated code from what is specified in the XSD file. This option is typically used when the XSD file contains type, element, and/or attribute names that are the same. It provides a way to disambiguate names in the generated code. Typically, element names are set to lower case.

lower is the default for C# and Java

See -typeCasing for changing the case of type names.

-genMake None

For C#, XBinder will generate a makefile.

For Java, XBinder will generate an Apache Ant buildfile.

-genPrint None Generate print utility functions. Print functions are debug functions that allow the contents of generated type variables to be written to any given output stream.
-genReader None Generate a sample reader program
-genvcproj <version> (optional)

For C# only, XBinder will generate a Visual Studio project file.

<version> specifies the version of Visual Studio (2015, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2008, or 2005). Not specifying a version will cause the compiler to generate a project for Visual Studio 2013.

-genWriter None Generate a sample writer program
-I <directory> This option is used to specify a directory that will be searched for XSD <import> and <include> items. Multiple –I qualifiers can be used to specify multiple directories to search.
-lax None This option causes decode/validation functions to be generated that contain less schema-validation error checking code. This can be useful for working with XML documents that are not completely valid with regards to the schema.
-modularize None This option is used when XSD <include> directives are included in a schema to tell the processor to put the generated code in separate output files based on the definitions in the included files. The default behavior if this is not used is to include all of the code in the main file that is including the definitions. This can only be used if the included files can be successfully compiled on their own (i.e. are not dependent on definitions from the parent module).
-namespace <prefix> Add the given prefix to all class names. This makes it possible to disambiguate items with the same names that are in different schemas. Note that the -csnspfx (for C#) or -pkgpfx (for Java) can be used to derive C# namespaces or Java package names from the name of the XSD file.
-nocsgetset None Do not generate getter and setter methods for C#. The default behavior, if this option isn't present, is to generate both getter/setter methods and properties. If this option is specified, only properties will be generated.
-nodatestamp None Do not insert a date stamp in the header of each generated file. This can be useful when using a source control system to prevent identical source files from appearing different.
-noderiv None Suppress generation of extra code for run-time derived type handling. This code makes it possible to decode complexContent types using xsi:type declarations.
-nomixed None Do not generate a special structure to hold mixed content items. The generated code will more closely match the schema layout. However, mixed content will not be supported.
-o <directory> This option is used to specify the name of a directory to which all of the generated files will be written.
-pkgname <name> Provides a Java package name. All classes will be generated into this package.
-pkgpfx <prefix> Provides a prefix for package names. Each class will be generated into a package named <prefix>.<schema>, where <schema> is based on the name of the XSD file from which the class was generated.
-print None see -genPrint
-typeCasing lower or upper

This option is used to change the case of the first letter in generated class names from what is specified in the XSD file. This option is typically used when the XSD file contains type, element, and/or attribute names that are the same. It provides a way to disambiguate the names in the generated code.

The default for C# and Java is upper.

See -elemCasing for changing the case of element names.

-usePDU name of element When generating sample code (example -genReader -genWriter), this option tells XBinder which global element should be handled by the sample code.