METS Java Toolkit / Marshalling / Unmarshalling
Draft Version 1.0 (alpha) 2002/03/15

The procedure to marshal a METS file is to create an in-memory representation composed of instantiated objects, and invoke the root <mets> class validate() and marshal() methods:

Mets mets = new Mets ();
...

mets.validate ();
mets.marshal (outputStream);

This generates a well-formed and valid METS file on the output stream.

The procedure to unmarshal a METS file to an in-memory representation is to instantiate the root <mets> class, and invoke its unmarshal() and validate() methods:

Mets mets = Mets.unmarshal (inputStream);
mets.validate ();
...

At this point, the entire document is represented by a tree structure of instantiated objects, against which the standard accessor and mutator functions can be invoked.