Introspection

From JAXXWiki

Introspection is the process of analyzing a class to identify what properties, events, and other features that it supports.

In Java, this function is provided by java.beans.Introspector. Introspector uses reflection to analyze classes for certain naming conventions, such as paired getFoo() / setFoo() methods, and provide information about features supported by the class. Classes may also provide explicit information about their features in cases where reflection alone is not sufficient. Classes designed to support introspection are called JavaBeans.

Introspection is what allows JAXX to support class tags for classes it is not specifically programmed to support. All features identified by introspection are exposed as XML attributes. As features are identified by common naming conventions that most Java programmers use instinctively, introspection will generally identify most of the useful features of a class even if the class was not specifically written as a JavaBean.