Generating the @XmlRootElement for JAXB objects

Make sure you have a jaxb binding file which looks like

 <jaxb:bindings xmlns:jaxb="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jaxb" jaxb:version="2.0" xmlns:xjc= "http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jaxb/xjc" jaxb:extensionBindingPrefixes="xjc">  
 <jaxb:globalBindings>  
 <xjc:simple/>  
 </jaxb:globalBindings>  
 </jaxb:bindings>   

In your xsd define your element like:

 <xs:complexType name="FenceDefinition">  
 ..  
 </xs:complexType>  
 <xs:element name="artifact" type="FenceDefinition"/>  

Run the xjc compiler: 

 xjc -p <package-name> -xmlschema -d <gen-directory> -verbose -b jaxb.binding -extension <xsd-file>