How to load classes dynamically from jar file - java

If i have a jar file that contain many class, how to get classes, and create instances at runtime. In this code i don't understand the Class.forName line, the MyClass is that class what contain the jar file or that class what will create after the jar file load?
URLClassLoader child = new URLClassLoader(
new URL[] {myJar.toURI().toURL()},
this.getClass().getClassLoader()
);
Class classToLoad = Class.forName("com.MyClass", true, child);
Method method = classToLoad.getDeclaredMethod("myMethod");
Object instance = classToLoad.newInstance();
Object result = method.invoke(instance);

Class.forName loads a class.
The first parameter is the (canonical) name of the class. In this case, you try to load the class com.MyClass.
The second parameter specifies that the class should be initialized at that point(static variables are initialized and static blocks are run.
The third parameter is the ClassLoader the class will be loaded from. In your case, it will try to find the class from myJar but if the class isn't found there, it will try to load the class from the same ClassLoader the calling class has been loaded.

Related

How to use custom classloader for subsequent class loadings?

I have a main method that creates custom classloader and instantiates a class, called Test, with it.
public class App {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
try {
Class.forName("com.mycompany.app2.Test2"); // We ensure that Test2 is not part of current classpath
System.err.println("Should have thrown ClassNotFound");
System.exit(1);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// ignore
}
String jar = "C:\\experiments\\classloader-test2\\target\\classloader-test2-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar"; // Contains Test2
URL[] classPaths = new URL[] { new File(jar).toURI().toURL() };
ClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(classPaths, App.class.getClassLoader());
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(classLoader);
Class.forName("com.mycompany.app2.Test2", true, classLoader); // Check that custom class loader can find the wanted class
Test test = (Test) Class.forName("com.mycompany.app.Test", true, classLoader).getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance();
test.ex(); // This throws ClassNotFound for Test2
}
}
This class then itself instantiates another class that is not part of the original classpath, but is part of the custom one.
public class Test {
public void ex() {
new Test2().test();
}
}
In my understanding of classloader, since Test was created with the custom classloader any class loadings within should be done with the same loader. But this does not seem to be the case.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/mycompany/app2/Test2
at com.mycompany.app.Test.ex(Test.java:7)
at com.mycompany.app.App.main(App.java:28)
What do I need to do in the main method to make Test#ex work, without changing Test?
I'm using Java 17.
You create the URLClassLoader using App.class.getClassLoader() as the parent class loader. Hence, the request to load Test through the custom class loader is resolved through the parent loader, ending up at exactly the same class you’d get with Test.class in your main method.
You could pass a different parent loader, e.g. null to denote the bootstrap loader, to forbid resolving the Test class though the parent loader but this would result in either of two unhelpful scenarios
If the custom class loader has no com.mycompany.app.Test class on its own, the loading attempt would simply fail.
If the custom class loader has a com.mycompany.app.Test class, i.e. inside classloader-test2-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar, it would be a different class than the Test class referenced in your main method, loaded by the application class loader. In this case, the type cast (Test) would fail.
In other words, the Test class referenced by you main method can not be affected by another, unrelated class loader at all.
There is an entirely different approach which may work in some scenarios. Do not create a new class loader, when all you want to do, is to inject a new class.
byte[] code;
try(var is = new URL("jar:file:C:\\experiments\\classloader-test2\\target\\" +
"classloader-test2-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar!/com/mycompany/app2/Test2.class").openStream())
{
code = is.readAllBytes();
}
MethodHandles.lookup().defineClass(code);
Test test = new Test();
test.ex();
This adds the class to the current class loading context, so subsequent linking will succeed. With the following catches:
No previous attempt to link this class must have been made so far
It only works for a classes without dependencies to other absent classes (as there’s no class loader resolving those to the jar file outside the class path).
In some cases, when the dependencies are non-circular or resolved lazily, you could add all the classes with multiple define calls, if you know which you need and in which order.
The class must be in the same package, otherwise, you’d have to move the lookup context to the right package, with the documented restrictions
An entirely different approach to add the classes to the existing environment, would be via Java Agents, as they can add jar files to the class path.

How do I load apach xmlbeans class with classloader?

We have a reporting aplication that by default generates pdf outputs, but you can write your own classes to generate any other output format. This way I have generated xls files using apache poi 10.0. But, now came a request to generate xlsx file. When I try to create a workbook with this code:
XSSFWorkbook wbTemplate=new XSSFWorkbook()
I got the error:
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions.setSaveAggressiveNamespaces()Lorg/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions;
I have discovered that the application already uses a very old version of the xmlbeans file that of course doesn't contain the above method. First I tryed to replace the xml bean file with a newer version just in case I have luck, but the application freezes.
My next idea is to use classLoader and when the app runs my class to generate the xlsx file I load the above method. To do so I have implemented this solution found on the internet:
URL[] classLoaderUrls = new URL[]{new URL("file:/C:/HOME/Installs/Apache POI/poi-3.10/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar")};
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(classLoaderUrls);
Class<?> beanClass = urlClassLoader.loadClass("org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions");
Constructor<?> constructor = beanClass.getConstructor();
Object beanObj = constructor.newInstance();
Method[] m=beanClass.getMethods();
Method method = beanClass.getMethod("setSaveAggressiveNamespaces");
method.invoke(beanObj);
But what a surprise when it wants to get the "setSaveAggressiveNamespaces" method name I got again the error that this function doesn't exist.
Then I have written into a file all the function names of this class and it is true, that name doesn't exist. But exist another one called "setSaveAggresiveNamespaces" with one S! If I invoke this it works, but of course when I wan't to create the XSSF workbook I still get the message that the setSaveAggressiveNamespaces (with double SS) doesn't exist.
But the setSaveAggressiveNamespaces should be in the class since this is coming with the apache poi package.
What can I do in this case to make it work?
The application runs under java 1.6
Thanks in advance for the answers.
UPDATE
Axel, this is how I load now the class:
public void customClassLoader() throws Exception
{
URL[] classLoaderUrls = new URL[]{new URL("file:/C:/HOME/Installs/Apache POI/poi-3.10/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.3.0.jar")};
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(classLoaderUrls,null);
Class<?> beanClass = urlClassLoader.loadClass("org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions");
log("RESOURCES:" +beanClass.getResource("/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class"));
Constructor<?> constructor = beanClass.getConstructor();
Object beanObj = constructor.newInstance();
Method[] m=beanClass.getMethods();
for (int i=0;i<m.length;++i)
log("QQQ:" +String.valueOf(i)+".: "+ m[i].getName());
Method method = beanClass.getMethod("setSaveAggressiveNamespaces");
method.invoke(beanObj);
}
And then I call the above function at the first row of the class that generates the report. There is nothing before it.
The RESOURCE is written in the log as:
"RESOURCES:jar:file:/C:/HOME/Installs/Apache POI/poi-3.10/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.3.0.jar!/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class"
URLClassLoader(java.net.URL[]) states:
Constructs a new URLClassLoader for the specified URLs using the
default delegation parent ClassLoader.
So the default delegation parent ClassLoader will also be used and so the org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions will be loaded from there if found and not from the additional given URL.
So we need not using the default delegation parent ClassLoader. URLClassLoader(java.net.URL[], null) is doing this.
Example:
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
public class UseURLClassLoader {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
URL[] classLoaderUrls;
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader;
Class<?> beanClass;
classLoaderUrls = new URL[]{new URL("file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar")};
urlClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(classLoaderUrls); //default delegation parent ClassLoader is used
beanClass = urlClassLoader.loadClass("org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions");
System.out.println(beanClass.getResource("/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class")); //class is loaded using default parent class loader
URL context = new URL("file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/");
classLoaderUrls = new URL[] {
new URL(context, "poi-3.10.1-20140818.jar"),
new URL(context, "poi-ooxml-3.10.1-20140818.jar"),
new URL(context, "poi-ooxml-schemas-3.10.1-20140818.jar"),
// maybe others also necessary
new URL(context, "lib/commons-codec-1.5.jar"),
// maybe others also necessary
new URL(context, "ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar")
// maybe others also necessary
};
for (int i = 0; i < classLoaderUrls.length; i++) {
System.out.println(classLoaderUrls[i]);
}
urlClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(classLoaderUrls, null); //set default parent class loader null
beanClass = urlClassLoader.loadClass("org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions");
System.out.println(beanClass.getResource("/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class")); //class is loaded using this class loader
}
}
For me called as follows:
axel#arichter:~/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-4.0.0$ java -cp .:./*:./lib/*:./ooxml-lib/* UseURLClassLoader
it produces:
jar:file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-4.0.0/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-3.0.1.jar!/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class
file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/poi-3.10.1-20140818.jar
file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/poi-ooxml-3.10.1-20140818.jar
file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/poi-ooxml-schemas-3.10.1-20140818.jar
file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/lib/commons-codec-1.5.jar
file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar
jar:file:/home/axel/Dokumente/JAVA/poi/poi-3.10.1/ooxml-lib/xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar!/org/apache/xmlbeans/XmlOptions.class
So at first the class is loaded using default parent class loader. For me it loads org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlOptions farther from the newer xmlbeans-3.0.1.jar. For you it loads farther from the older xmlbeans-1.*.jar. That is because those jars are in class path of the default parent class loader.
The second code part then sets the default parent class loader null and so class is loaded only using this class loader.
But messing around with the class loaders is a mess. As implied in my code, having the default parent class loader set null, we need giving the current class loader all the needed class sources. This often becomes very expensive. So not having the old jars in the class path will always be the better solution than messing around with the class loaders.

Custom ClassLoader, how to use?

I am trying to use a custom class loader to load all the dependencies needed for the application. I've implemented the customerClassLoader following the site: https://www.javacodegeeks.com/2013/03/java-handmade-classloader-isolation.html
However, I dont understand how to tell my application to use the custom classLoader whenever needed.
For instance: Lets say, I have a method to make http request like below. How can I tell the application to use the custom classLoader to load the required jars?
private HttpResponse get() {
HttpClient client = HttpClientBuilder.create().build();
HttpGet request = new HttpGet(url);
HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);
return response;
}
Java uses ClassLoader implicitly when you use new, import keyword, the jvm will use the current class's classloader to load the dependent classes, so you can use the custom classloader to load a bootstrap class explicitly by using classloader.loadclass, and the bootstrap just runs a method belonging to your target class instance. An example follows.
There is a class Target that depends on the class DateFormatter which is included in the spring-context, and has a method named start.
import org.springframework.format.datetime.DateFormatter;
public class Target {
private static DateFormatter dateFormatter;
public void start(){
System.out.println(this.getClass().getClassLoader());
dateFormatter=new DateFormatter();
System.out.println(dateFormatter);
}
}
Next, we compile and package the above code as a jar named target.jar, which is stored at D:\\test\\target.jar.
Next, we declare a class BootStrap in another jar that will call the method start of Target instance. The BootStrap class will dynamically load the target.jar and spring-context jar files by the same classloader which is a URLClassLoader instance. Because of this, the method start in Target instance can access the DateFormatter class that is defined in spring-context.
public class BootStrap {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
URL url = new URL("http://maven.aliyun.com/nexus/content/groups/public/org/springframework/spring-context/4.3.1.RELEASE/spring-context-4.3.1.RELEASE.jar?spm=0.0.0.0.kG1Pdw&file=spring-context-4.3.1.RELEASE.jar");
URL url2= (new File("D:\\test\\target.jar").toURI().toURL());
URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{url,url2});
Class<?> clz = classLoader.loadClass("com.zhuyiren.Target");
Object main = clz.newInstance();
Method test = clz.getMethod("start");
test.invoke(main);
}
}
Finally, run the BootStrap main method. There are two important thing:
The BootStrap class and Target class don't belong to a same jar file.
The target.jar is not stored in CLASSPATH path.
These 2 point can make sure that the AppClassLoader can not find and load the Target class. Because of the mechanism of class loader, jvm will use the custom load the Target. Of course, you can guarantee it by changing the URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{url,url2}); to URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{url, url2}, ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().getParent());
And we can see the result:
java.net.URLClassLoader#e9e54c2
org.springframework.format.datetime.DateFormatter#4dd8dc3
That means we can access the DateFormatter instance which is defined in spring-context jar file successfully, while the spring-context is not stored in CLASSPATH, but we are using the custom clasloader to load and use it.

How to add a class to the ClassPath at runtime?

A have a jar file which has a main method. I compile a new class and I want to add this new class to CP.
/folder
/my_jar_file.jar
/MyClass.class
How can I do that kind of thing in Java without recompiling of jar file?
Adding to class path is will not load your class at runtime.
You need to explicitly load your jar in the code as below,
URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader (yourJar.toURL(), this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Class classToLoad = Class.forName ("com.company.abc", true, classLoader);

Checking if class is child of class

I am loading classes via ClassLoader:
Class<?> clazz = urlClassLoader.loadClass(name.substring(0, name.length() - 6).replaceAll("/", "."));
System.out.println(clazz);
System.out.println(clazz.isInstance(SkillCast.class));
System.out.println(SkillCast.class.isInstance(clazz));
System.out.println(SkillCast.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz));
System.out.println(clazz.isAssignableFrom(SkillCast.class));
This is my structure:
public class SkillFireball extends SkillCast implements ISkillThrown
public abstract class SkillCast extends Skill
And prints are:
class skills.SkillFireball
false
false
false
false
What I am sure of is that clazz is SkillFireball and I can print field/method names.
How can I check if clazz is child of SkillCast?
EDIT
private static URLClassLoader urlClassLoader;
And code:
ClassLoader cl = Loader.instance().getModClassLoader();
urlClassLoader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(urls.toArray(new URL[urls.size()]), cl);
Where #getModClassLoader() returns:
// The class loader we load the mods into.
private ModClassLoader modClassLoader;
And:
public class ModClassLoader extends URLClassLoader
How it works:
Minecraft Forge API is loading #Mod. My mod is providing SkillCast.class and when loaded is attempting to read game directory and load classes in .jar files. Now - I have not much of an idea what should I do :C
I did it.
Problem was really my lack of knowledge about how classLoader-parenting works and how Java loads classes.
Done it by making new URLClassLoader with parent set to ClassLoader used by Main program itself (the mentioned #Mod).
SkillCast.class is loaded by Mod's ClassLoader therefore when I added new Class (SkillFireball) I also needed to use Mod's one, not new one like I did before.
Class<?> clazz = Loader.instance().getModClassLoader().loadClass(...)
This is not really an "answer" just an closing-problem post.

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