Error while unmarshal an XML with JAXB caused by DTD file

Question

I try to unmarhshal a file XML file (test.xml) with JAXB (javax.xml.bind.JAXB) but it gives me this error:

[org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; systemId: file:/C:/Users/EXAMPLE/AppData/Local/Eclipse/workspace_4.4.0/EXAMPLE/test.xml; lineNumber: 2; columnNumber: 42; Externe DTD: Lesen von externer DTD "example.dtd" nicht erfolgreich, da "file"-Zugriff wegen der von der Eigenschaft "accessExternalDTD" festgelegten Einschränkung nicht zulässig ist.]

English Translation:

Reading from external DTD "example.dtd" not succesful , cause "File"-Access is not allowed by the Restriction set by the Properties "accessExternalDTD"

Solutions already tried:

• Checked if all users including system has access to R/W both files.
• Deleted and used new files to test.
• Tried To find this accessExternalDTD properties.

Stuff to notice:

• Project is running in Subversion
• I used the same method on previous projects and the same .dtd and .xml file and it worked well
• Content of the LINE 2 From the XML File: <!DOCTYPE EXAMPLE SYSTEM "example.dtd">

Solution 1

The accessExternalDTD property can be controlled with the system property javax.xml.accessExternalDTD, so start your program with -Djavax.xml.accessExternalDTD=true and it should work. It should also be possible to set the property on the unmarshaller, try this:

unmarshaller.setProperty(javax.xml.XMLConstants.ACCESS_EXTERNAL_DTD, Boolean.TRUE);

Solution 2

import javax.xml.bind.*;
import javax.xml.stream.*;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;

public class Demo {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        JAXBContext jc = JAXBContext.newInstance(Customer.class);

        XMLInputFactory xif = XMLInputFactory.newFactory();
        xif.setProperty(XMLInputFactory.SUPPORT_DTD, false);
        XMLStreamReader xsr = xif.createXMLStreamReader(new StreamSource("input.xml"));

        Unmarshaller unmarshaller = jc.createUnmarshaller();
        Customer customer = (Customer) unmarshaller.unmarshal(xsr);
    }

}

Comments

[LoremIpsum]

Thank you allot ! i will try it ASAP so i can accept your answer if its working :)

[HammerNL]

This solves the exception indeed, but note that this DISABLES DTD checking, which might not be what you want!

[HammerNL]

"-Djavax.xml.accessExternalDTD=true" does not work, "-Djavax.xml.accessExternalDTD=all" does! A bit more portable would be to do this in code: System.setProperty("javax.xml.accessExternalDTD", "all"); The unmarshaller.setProperty() solution did not work for me.

[leventunver]

@HammerNL You are my saver! This might deserve its own thread or as another answer.

[Graham Leggett]

This answer does not explain what accessExternalDTD=all does, or whether doing this is safe.