JAXB - Unable to create converter for class ...

Hello,

I am using the newly version retrofit 2.4.0 with the new jaxb converter

implementation "com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-jaxb:2.4.0"

And I got the following exception when I call my webservice :

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to create converter for class xxx.oym.autocomplete.OymAutocompleteResult
      for method OymWS.getAutocomplete
      at retrofit2.ServiceMethod$Builder.methodError(ServiceMethod.java:755)
      at retrofit2.ServiceMethod$Builder.createResponseConverter(ServiceMethod.java:741)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: javax.xml.bind.JAXBException
   - with linked exception:
  [java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.ContextFactory" on path: DexPathList[[...]]]
      at retrofit2.converter.jaxb.JaxbConverterFactory.contextForType(JaxbConverterFactory.java:76)
      at retrofit2.converter.jaxb.JaxbConverterFactory.responseBodyConverter(JaxbConverterFactory.java:67)
      at retrofit2.Retrofit.nextResponseBodyConverter(Retrofit.java:330)
      at retrofit2.Retrofit.responseBodyConverter(Retrofit.java:313)
      at retrofit2.ServiceMethod$Builder.createResponseConverter(ServiceMethod.java:739)
  	... 12 more
  Caused by: javax.xml.bind.JAXBException
   - with linked exception:
  [java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.ContextFactory" on path: DexPathList[[...]]]
      at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:241)
      at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.find(ContextFinder.java:477)
      at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:656)
      at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:599)
      at retrofit2.converter.jaxb.JaxbConverterFactory.contextForType(JaxbConverterFactory.java:74)
  	... 16 more
  Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.ContextFactory" on path: DexPathList[[...]]
      at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:125)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
      at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
      at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.safeLoadClass(ContextFinder.java:594)
      at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:239)

So I added dependency to com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-impl:2.2.11 which lead to another exception :

 Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.sun.xml.bind.Util" on path: DexPathList[[...]]
     at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:125)
     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)

And finally I added the dependency to com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-core:2.2.11 and it drives to a dead-end with the following error :

Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of: Ljava/awt/Image;
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeBuiltinLeafInfoImpl.<clinit>(RuntimeBuiltinLeafInfoImpl.java:381)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeTypeInfoSetImpl.<init>(RuntimeTypeInfoSetImpl.java:63)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.createTypeInfoSet(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:128)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.createTypeInfoSet(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:84)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.<init>(ModelBuilder.java:162)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.<init>(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:92)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl.getTypeInfoSet(JAXBContextImpl.java:444)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl.<init>(JAXBContextImpl.java:292)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl.<init>(JAXBContextImpl.java:139)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl$JAXBContextBuilder.build(JAXBContextImpl.java:1138)
     at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.ContextFactory.createContext(ContextFactory.java:162)
     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
     at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:262)
     at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:249)
     at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.find(ContextFinder.java:456)
     at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:656)
     at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:599)
     at retrofit2.converter.jaxb.JaxbConverterFactory.contextForType(JaxbConverterFactory.java:74)
     at retrofit2.converter.jaxb.JaxbConverterFactory.responseBodyConverter(JaxbConverterFactory.java:67)
     at retrofit2.Retrofit.nextResponseBodyConverter(Retrofit.java:330)

However when I launch my Junit tests with MockWebServer for the given webservice all is doing fine (probaly all the class are shipped in java junit)

Is there a documentation to how use the JAXB converter on android ?

[Orbyt]

@JakeWharton Of course, but it is heavily used in many Android applications. I do not see any other Retrofit supported XML converters, so dropping Simple XML in favor of something that may not work on Android seems strange.

I understand the option to fork and maintain the Simple XML converter exists, but do you have any other recommendations, other than TikXML, for those who would like to use Retrofit with services utilizing XML?

[Orbyt]

@JakeWharton @swankjesse Why has the Simple XML converter been deprecated in favor of the JAXB converter if JAXB is not compatible?