Index: org/exolab/castor/xml/Marshaller.java
===================================================================
--- org/exolab/castor/xml/Marshaller.java	(Revision 7205)
+++ org/exolab/castor/xml/Marshaller.java	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -1373,6 +1373,8 @@
                 String path = attDesc.getLocationPath();
                 if (name.equals(path)) {
                     mstate.nestedAtts[i] = null;
+                    // TODO: Should this not be '--mstate.nestedAttcount'? Setting to zero
+                    // sometimes prevents the subsequent attribute values to be processed
                     mstate.nestedAttCount = 0;
                     processAttribute(mstate.getOwner(), attDesc, atts);
                 }
@@ -1763,7 +1765,27 @@
                 }
             }
 
-            if (obj == null || (obj instanceof Enumeration && !((Enumeration)obj).hasMoreElements())) {
+
+			// TODO: If element 'text' value is null and is not required then it skips attribute
+			// processing. I think there should be a check that if the element has attributes with
+			// non-null values then the attributes should be processed here instead of processing them
+			// later
+            
+            // TODO: add a check that checks with nestedAtts, whether any Attributes held there
+            // has/includes a path/location that equals the current element name (xml)
+            
+            boolean hasNestedAttributes = false;
+            if (nestedAtts.length > 0) {
+                for (int j = 0; j < nestedAtts.length; j++) {
+                    XMLFieldDescriptor attributeDescriptor = nestedAtts[j];
+                    String locationPath = attributeDescriptor.getLocationPath();
+                    if (locationPath.equals(elemDescriptor.getXMLName())) {
+                        hasNestedAttributes = true;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            if ((obj == null && !hasNestedAttributes) || (obj instanceof Enumeration && !((Enumeration)obj).hasMoreElements())) {
                 if (elemDescriptor.isNillable() && (elemDescriptor.isRequired())) {
                     nil = true;
                 }
@@ -1858,7 +1880,10 @@
                 obj = new NilObject(classDesc, elemDescriptor);
             }
 
-            final Class type = obj.getClass();
+            Class type = null;
+            if (obj != null) {
+                type = obj.getClass();
+            }
 
             MarshalState myState = mstate.createMarshalState(object, name);
             myState.nestedAtts = nestedAtts;
@@ -1866,11 +1891,11 @@
 
 
             //-- handle byte arrays
-            if (type.isArray() && (type.getComponentType() == Byte.TYPE)) {
+            if (type != null && type.isArray() && (type.getComponentType() == Byte.TYPE)) {
                 marshal(obj, elemDescriptor, handler, myState);
             }
             //-- handle all other collection types
-            else if (isCollection(type)) {
+            else if (type != null && isCollection(type)) {
                 boolean processCollection = true;
                 if (_saveMapKeys) {
                     MapHandler mapHandler = MapHandlers.getHandler(type);
@@ -1921,6 +1946,9 @@
         }
 
 
+		// TODO: Handling additional attributes at the end causes elements to be marshalled in the wrong
+		// order when element 'text' is null, but their attribute value is not null. Can this be fixed
+		// to process element attributes even when the element text value is null?
 
         //-- Handle any additional attribute locations that were
         //-- not handled when dealing with wrapper elements