Develop Reference

Dynamically loading and instantiating a .class that is not in the classpath

I have two java projects MASTER and PLUGIN. PLUGIN has dependencies to MASTER and its intent is to extend a class found in MASTER, called SCRIPT.
Once I have declared a SCRIPT (myScript), I want to move the .class file to a folder that MASTER can access. I want MASTER to dynamically load and instantiate that class as a SCRIPT.
I've looked for quite a bit and tried different solutions, but I always get a ClassNotFoundException exception.
I would prefer to do this without passing arguments to the JVM at startup.
Is it even possible? This is my current solution: "currentPath" is "etc/etc/myScript.class
try {
OUT.ln("initiating script " + currentPath);
File file = new File(currentPath);
File parent = file.getParentFile();
String name = file.getName().split(".class")[0];
// Convert File to a URL
URL url = parent.toURI().toURL();
URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
// Create a new class loader with the directory
#SuppressWarnings("resource")
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
current = (SCRIPT) cl.loadClass("main.script." + name).newInstance();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new RuntimeException("Unable to load script " + currentPath);
}

if the class you want to load is defined within a package like:
main.script.myScript
and you want to load this class from a folder like c:/myclasses,
then you have to put this class to c:/myclasses/main/script/myScript.class
and then instantate the classloader with the basefolder like:
URL[] urls = new URL[]{new URL("file://c:/myclasses")};
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
then the class can be loaded by using the qualified class name:
cl.loadClass("main.script.myScript").getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance()
if you want to keep the class at a specific folder without considering the package structure you could do something like this:
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
File file = new File("etc/etc/myScript.class");
String className = file.getName().split(".class")[0];
String packageName = "main.script.";
byte[] bytes = Files.readAllBytes(Path.of(file.getPath()));
MyClassLoader myClassLoader = new MyClassLoader(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
Object o = myClassLoader.getClass(packageName+className, bytes).getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance();
System.out.println(o);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new RuntimeException("Unable to load script ");
}
}
public static class MyClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
public MyClassLoader(ClassLoader parent) {
super(parent);
}
public Class<?> getClass(String name, byte[] code) {
return defineClass(name, code, 0, code.length);
}
}

Unable to run downloaded jar from other jar

I currently have the following problem:
I have created a updater jar from which a client jar is downloaded and placed in some directory (just somewhere on the disk, not associated with the directory of the updater jar). I use the following code the run the client jar from the updater:
private void startApplication() {
String url = getFilePath()+"client.jar";
URL parsedURL = null;
try {
parsedURL = new File(url).toURI().toURL();
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
ClassLoader loader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(new URL[]{parsedURL}, getClass().getClassLoader());
Class<?> cl = null;
try {
cl = Class.forName("org.myApp.client.mainPackage.Main", true, loader);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
finally {
loader = null;
}
Class<? extends Application> runClass = cl.asSubclass(Application.class);
// Avoid Class.newInstance, for it is evil.
Constructor<? extends Application> ctor = null;
try {
ctor = runClass.getConstructor();
} catch (NoSuchMethodException | SecurityException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Application doRun = null;
try {
doRun = ctor.newInstance();
} catch (InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException
| IllegalArgumentException | InvocationTargetException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
try {
doRun.start(primaryStage);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
This code seems to work, because the Main of the client.jar gets runned. However, after its Main is started, I get an exception from the client jar. The Main from the client jar tries to load a FXML file in the upper pane. This is the exception:
ClassNotFoundException: org.myApp.client.lockscreen.LockscreenController when loading a FXML file
I do not know what triggers this error. The client jar just runs as should be, when I run it standalone.
Do I need to load all classes from the client jar from the updater jar?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Everybody thanks for your help. I was able to fix it like this (thanks Jool, you will get all the credits):
I downloaded and runned the client jar, assuming it would have its own references. However, as Jool said, I had to add the director to the class path. What I did wrong, was that I added the directory, and not the Jar file. You have to add the JAR file too ! I did that with this code:
public void addPath(String s) throws Exception {
File f = new File(s);
URI u = f.toURI();
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<URLClassLoader> urlClass = URLClassLoader.class;
Method method = urlClass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{URL.class});
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(urlClassLoader, new Object[]{u.toURL()});
}
And then I just called addPath(url) before running the client jar.

It is saying that the class cannot be found because it is not on your classpath.
This depends on how you build your application (Ant, Maven etc), since this determines how the location of the .jar file is known, and where the .jar file is.
If you are using an IDE, there would usually be some sort of Libraries placeholder in which you define .jars that you are dependent upon.

How to get resource files when loading a jar using an URLClassLoader?

I have written an application which manages several plugins which are provided as jars. I load the plugin classes using an URLClassLoader which works as supposed.
But now I am writing a plugin which loads some resources which are stored inside the jar. If I start this plugin as a standalone application everything works, but if I start it from inside my application I get a NullPointerException when I try to open the resources InputStream.
I open the stream like this:
this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/templates/template.html");
My Eclipse project structure looks like:
src
|
+ My source files
resources
|
+ templates
|
+ template.html
The following loads my plugins:
private List<Class<?>> loadClasses(final File[] jars) {
List<Class<?>> classes = new ArrayList<Class<?>>();
URL[] urls = getJarURLs(jars);
URLClassLoader loader = new URLClassLoader(urls);
for (File jar : jars) {
JarFile jarFile = null;
try {
jarFile = new JarFile(jar);
} catch (IOException e) {
// Skip this jar if it can not be opened
continue;
}
Enumeration<JarEntry> entries = jarFile.entries();
while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
JarEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
if (isClassFile(entry.getName())) {
String className = entry.getName().replace("/", ".").replace(".class", "");
Class<?> cls = null;
try {
cls = loader.loadClass(className);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// Skip this jar if a class inside it can not be loaded
continue;
}
classes.add(cls);
}
}
try {
jarFile.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
try {
loader.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
return classes;
}
/**
* Checks if a path points to a class file or not.
*
* #param path the filename to check
* #return {#code true} if the path points to a class file or {#code false}
* if not
*/
private boolean isClassFile(final String path) {
return path.toLowerCase().endsWith(".class") && !path.toLowerCase().contains("package-info");
}
Then I make instances from this classes using newInstance().
I think that the root path of the plugins jar is not the same as the root path of the application or that not all contents of the jar files are loaded or both...
Can someone help me?

First note, that using getClass().getResource(...) also delegates to a ClassLoader, which is also responsible for loading resources. Which class loader is used? It is the same class loader, with which the class was loaded. Point.
In your code, you build up an URLClassLoader for loading some classes. So the same URLClassLoader will then be used for loading the resources, if the above mentioned call comes from a class inside your plugin.
This all seems to be ok ... but you did a little mistake. At the end of loading you also closed the loader. This will prevent subsequent calls to loadClass or getResource from returning anything meaningful. In fact, it could null, as now the loader cannot load the resource anymore.
Conclusion: Do not close the URLClassLoader, if you still need it ofr loading purposes. Instead keep the reference to this class loader and close it at the end of your program runtime.

ClassNotFoundException when using dynamic classloader

It's a project downloaded from Web and I just changed the path to find the class which I want to make it load dynamically.Here are the codes in which I try to load the class on runtime.But I got a ClassNotFoundException eventually:
private static IExample newInstanceWithThrows() throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, ClassNotFoundException {
URLClassLoader tmp =
new URLClassLoader(new URL[] {getClassPath()}) {
public Class<?> loadClass(String name)
throws ClassNotFoundException {
if ("example.Example".equals(name)
|| "example.Leak".equals(name))
return findClass(name);
return super.loadClass(name);
}
};
return (IExample) tmp.loadClass("example.Example")
.newInstance();
}
private static URL getClassPath() {
String dir = "/Users/longtuan/develop/rjc2011/classes/";
try {
//return new URL(dir);
File path = new File(dir);
return path.toURL();
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
And the path to class example.Example is:
/Users/longtuan/develop/java/rjc2011/classes/example
And the run command I used is:
java -classpath ./bin example.Main
Current directory is:
/Users/longtuan/develop/java/rjc2011
All the things of current directory are like this:
Example is the directory in which I put all the java files.I place the compiled class file in directory bin except the class example.Example which is put in classes lonely.
Above are all the informations I can give, thanks for any help.

Add folder, which contains java sources, to classpath at runtime

Is it possible to add a folder which contains java source code as a classpath element. I have tried a few things and it seems that the classloadr is not picking up java soruce files? One of my attempts is shown below....
File uncompressedSrc = new File("uncompressed" + File.separator + "src" + File.separator);
URL uncompressedSrcURL = null;
try {
uncompressedSrcURL = new URL("file://"
+ uncompressedSrc.getAbsolutePath());
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
URL elements[] = { uncompressedSrcURL };
new URLClassLoader(elements, ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader());

I have found a solution to my problem... I used the following dirty "hack" to add a folder to class path...
public static void addUrl(URL u) {
URLClassLoader sysloader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader
.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<URLClassLoader> sysclass = URLClassLoader.class;
try {
Method method = sysclass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", parameters);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(sysloader, new Object[] { u });
} catch (Throwable t) {
t.printStackTrace();
try {
throw new IOException(
"Error, could not add URL to system classloader");
} catch (IOException e) {
logger.log(Level.SEVERE, e.getMessage());
}
}
}

Java source code is nothing the JVM can handle by itself. Only compiled class files may be loaded by the classloader. So you may only add the content of JAR files or CLASS files to the classpath.

Sorry. I skimmed through your question way to fast.
As #Daniel says, the JVM can not read .java files, only .class files.
The java-files can be compiled into class-files and loaded in the JVM programatically as described here: Programmatically Compile and Execute with Java
The key ingredient is the following
JavaCompiler compiler = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler();
StandardJavaFileManager filemanager = compiler.getStandardFileManager( null, null, null );
try {
Iterable compilationUnits = filemanager.getJavaFileObjects( file );
compiler.getTask( null, filemanager, null, null, null, compilationUnits ).call();
filemanager.close();
} catch ( IOException e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Hope that helps!