Writers don't sort members from super to this

[michael-o]

Have a model which references a superclass:
https://github.com/apache/maven/blob/72688805c4f95f8ab4ca9ab2ac2cd114667790c9/maven-settings/src/main/mdo/settings.mdo#L506-L508
The generated SettingsXpp3Writer sorts:

    private void writeServer( Server server, String tagName, XmlSerializer serializer )
        throws java.io.IOException
    {
        serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, tagName );
        if ( server.getUsername() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "username" ).text( server.getUsername() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "username" );
        }
        if ( server.getPassword() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "password" ).text( server.getPassword() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "password" );
        }
        if ( server.getPrivateKey() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "privateKey" ).text( server.getPrivateKey() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "privateKey" );
        }
        if ( server.getPassphrase() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "passphrase" ).text( server.getPassphrase() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "passphrase" );
        }
        if ( server.getFilePermissions() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "filePermissions" ).text( server.getFilePermissions() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "filePermissions" );
        }
        if ( server.getDirectoryPermissions() != null )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "directoryPermissions" ).text( server.getDirectoryPermissions() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "directoryPermissions" );
        }
        if ( server.getConfiguration() != null )
        {
            ((Xpp3Dom) server.getConfiguration()).writeToSerializer( NAMESPACE, serializer );
        }
        if ( ( server.getId() != null ) && !server.getId().equals( "default" ) )
        {
            serializer.startTag( NAMESPACE, "id" ).text( server.getId() ).endTag( NAMESPACE, "id" );
        }
        serializer.endTag( NAMESPACE, tagName );
    } //-- void writeServer( Server, String, XmlSerializer )

All members from the super class at the end which makes the output look awkward. Super elements come last while the should be first.

Here is a sample output:

  <servers>
    <server>
      <username>maven</username>
      <password>***</password>
      <id>repoman</id>
    </server>
  </servers>

Expected output is:

super
super
..
super
this.

[michael-o]

@rfscholte Have a look at.

[rfscholte]

It took a while to discover what's happening here, but now I know: there is a property that controls the order of fields: https://codehaus-plexus.github.io/modello/modello.html#class_field xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo.
Currently by default it is indeed first thsi followed by super. By setting this attribute to the last field of the superclass, you'll get your preferred order.
I do agree that this is weird, and with 2.0.0 I might decide to change the order. But only as long as we can still control the order.

[michael-o]

Ah ok, that would be helpful for 2.0.0. Is this one safe to be changed for Maven before 4.0.0?

[rfscholte]

For now I suggest to xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo as I have no idea yet how much time other improvements will take and, as said, if it will still be possible the control the order.

[michael-o]

The field is a string, I consider the documentation mediocre:

mosipov@bsd1srv:/usr/home/mosipov/var/Projekte/maven (master=)
$ grep -r xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo .
./maven-model/src/main/mdo/maven.mdo:        <field xdoc.separator="blank" xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo="modules">
./maven-model/src/main/mdo/maven.mdo:        <field xdoc.separator="blank" xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo="pluginRepositories">
./maven-model/src/main/mdo/maven.mdo:        <field xdoc.separator="blank" xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo="reporting">

[rfscholte]

This field should be part of a class with a superclass. The xml.insertParentFieldsUpTo refers to a field name of that superclass.

[slachiewicz]

can we close this ?

[michael-o]

can we close this ?

Not really because I don't consider the docs of this field https://codehaus-plexus.github.io/modello/modello.html really helpful unless I am missing something.