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Metaschema Java Tools

This project provides a Java implementation of the Metaschema framework that supports format-agnostic information modeling and processing. A set of tools and libraries are provvided that allow developers to quickly develop applications using Metaschema-based models.

This project supports the following features:

  • Allows developers to generate Java classes from Metaschema definitions. Using a given Metaschema module, a developer can quickly generate Java classes for a Metaschema-based model, which can be used to create, parse, modify, and write XML, JSON, and YAML representations of that model using the generated bound Java objects. This allows a developer to quickly start programming business logic instead of spending hours writing parsing code. This approach is similar to the binding frameworks provided by Jakarta XML Binding (JAXB), XMLBeans, Java API for JSON Binding (JSON-B), and other class-to-object binding approaches. The OSCAL Java Library is an example of applying this approach to generate Java programming APIs for a set of Metaschema-defined models.
  • Supports generating Metaschema-based Java code during Maven builds. An Apache Maven Metaschema code generation plugin is provided that supports Java class generation based on a Metaschema module during Maven builds.
  • Enables validation of data aligned with a set of Metaschema modules using constraints defined within the Metaschema definitions. Using this framework, format-agnostic validation rules, defined in or external to a Metaschema module, can be enforced over data loaded into bound objects.
  • Allows execution of Metapath queries against data aligned with a Metaschema-based model. Metapath is an XPath-like expression language that can be used to query XML, JSON, or YAML data aligned with a Metaschema module. This allows data to be queried irrespective of the format it is stored in.

This project contains the following core sub-modules:

  • Metaschema Java API: Provides a Java API for interacting with Metaschema modules and executing Metapath expressions in Java programs. Supports loading XML-based Metaschema modules.
  • Metaschema Java Binding: Supports the generation and use of annotated plain old Java objects (POJOs) to create and store Metaschema module-based data. Supports code generation of POJO classes based on a Metaschema module and reading and writing Metaschema module-based data. Can read and write XML, JSON, and YAML content that is valid to the associated Metaschema model.
  • Metaschema Module Bindings: Provides a variety of different Metaschema modules for different types of data, including support for the Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF).
  • Metaschema Maven Plugin: A Maven build plugin that automates generation on Java classes and XML and JSON schemas based on a Metaschema module as part of a Maven build.
  • Metaschema Schema Generator: An API for generating XML and JSON schemas based on a Metaschema module.

Please refer to each sub-module for usage instructions.