I have a Java 8 Maven webapp project that I am running using jetty-runner.jar. Everything works fine, except I can't control the logging levels (INFO, WARNING, FINE, FINER etc.). Am using java.util.logging and OS is Win7.
I've tried the following:
Created a logging.properties file in src/main/resources folder (ends up in WEB-INF/classes directory of the war).
Renamed logging.properties to jetty-logging.properties
Used -Djava.util.logging.config.file=WEB-INF/classes/logging.properties (when the file was so named) with the command to run jetty-runner
java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=WEB-INF/classes/logging.prop
erties -jar target/dependency/jetty-runner.jar target/xyz.war
Also tried -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/WEB-INF/classes/logging.properties (with a / in front of WEB-INF)
My logging file is simply:
.level = WARNING
I haven't had to mess around with logging much before (except GAE projects), so not sure what I am doing wrong.
Since you are trying to load the logging.properties from inside of the WAR file you have to use the java.util.logging.config.class. Per the documentation:
If the "java.util.logging.config.class" property is set, then the property value is treated as a class name. The given class will be loaded, an object will be instantiated, and that object's constructor is responsible for reading in the initial configuration. (That object may use other system properties to control its configuration.) The alternate configuration class can use readConfiguration(InputStream) to define properties in the LogManager.
Using that property you can use Class.getResourceAsStream to locate the file inside of the WAR file. Here is an example:
package foo.bar.baz;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.logging.LogManager;
public class JulConfig {
/**
* Install this as the -Djava.util.logging.config.class=foo.bar.baz.JulConfig
* -Djava.util.logging.config.file=WEB-INF/classes/logging.properties
* #throws Exception if there is a problem.
*/
public JulConfig() throws Exception {
String key = "java.util.logging.config.file";
String file = System.getProperty(key, "logging.properties");
final InputStream in = JulConfig.class.getResourceAsStream(file);
if (in != null) {
try {
LogManager.getLogManager().readConfiguration(in);
//System.clearProperty(key); //Optional.
} finally {
try {
in.close();
} catch (IOException ignore) {
}
}
} else {
throw new FileNotFoundException(file);
}
}
}
The reason you have to do this is because the LogManager uses java.io.File to locate the logging.properties.
Assuming the following loader definition (the example is written in scala but it is almost the same as Java, thus you should easily understand the problem):
jar = new File("path/to/myjar.jar")
url = jar.toURI.toURL
urls = Array[URL](url) // just a single-element array containing the url
loader = new URLClassLoader(urls)
The JAR myjar.jar contains org/pack/Simple.class. The Simple has standard package org.pack and was compiled and packed into the JAR via JavaCompiler. The JAR is correct (executable etc.)
On linux, loader.loadClass("org.pack.Simple") returns the correct Class object.
On windows, it throws a ClassNotFoundException. Of course, I use \ instead of / as a file separator.
What do I do wrong? Or does simply windows suck? I installed OracleJDK8 and added its bin/ folder to the path.
EDIT1:
If I unpack JAR into some directory and let the ClassLoader to read from URL pointing at that directory, everything works. How is this possible?
I struggled long with this problem yesterday, but after a long Googling session I stumbled on the solution.
The URL object you specify must be created as follows:
URLClassLoader.addURL(new File(pathParam).toURI().toURL());
or in the constructor as follows:
new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{new File(pathParam).toURI().toURL()},this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Note that the constructor has the parent class-loader as a parameter.
for the loadClass() method. You need to ensure the path to the class is in binary format (as you are doing already).
For some reason, even if I create a URL object using the URL(String) constructor it won't work.
If you go and look at the java.lang.ClassLoader super-class, you will notice that it throws an exception by default. This is why the classloader is important.
protected Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
}
I thought I would use the new ResourceBundleControlProvider framework in Java 8 to fix something which Oracle themselves will never fix - the default encoding used when reading resource bundles.
So I made a control:
package com.acme.resources;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
public class AcmeResourceBundleControl extends ResourceBundle.Control
{
#Override
public ResourceBundle newBundle(String baseName, Locale locale, String format,
ClassLoader loader, boolean reload)
throws IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException, IOException
{
throw new UnsupportedOperationException("TODO");
}
}
Then I made a provider:
package com.acme.resources;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
import java.util.spi.ResourceBundleControlProvider;
public class AcmeResourceBundleControlProvider implements ResourceBundleControlProvider
{
private static final ResourceBundle.Control CONTROL = new AcmeResourceBundleControl();
#Override
public ResourceBundle.Control getControl(String baseName)
{
if (baseName.startsWith("com.acme."))
{
return CONTROL;
}
else
{
return null;
}
}
}
Then in META-INF/services/java.util.spi.ResourceBundleControlProvider:
com.acme.resources.AcmeResourceBundleControlProvider
Then I just tried to run our application from IDEA and I find that it never loads my provider (otherwise the exception would be raised.)
I have checked the names and they all seem to match up. I have checked the compiler output directory IDEA is using and it does contain the service file. I wrote a simple test program which just tries to look up the service:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
for (ResourceBundleControlProvider provider :
ServiceLoader.load(ResourceBundleControlProvider.class))
{
System.out.println(provider.getClass());
}
}
This does print out one entry which is the name of my implementation class. So the issue is not in the service file.
If I breakpoint inside ResourceBundle, I seem to be able to access the custom provider class. Initial forays into the debugger show that ServiceLoader isn't finding any implementations, but I can't figure out why. I'm sure there is some dodgy class loader magic going on which results in not loading my class. :(
Some scary documentation on the Javadoc makes it sound like it might have to be installed as a global extension. If that really is the case, it's a bit of a shame, because it seemed like a useful way to override the default (and in my opinion broken) behaviour. But I also read the tutorial on the matter and it didn't seem to be describing anything like that (unless the good behaviour was pulled out of Java 8 at the very last minute and the docs are out of date!)
The tutorial does state that the JAR containing the ResourceBundleControlProvider must be in the JVM's system extension directory. Section 6 of the tutorial describes the requirement:
java -Djava.ext.dirs=lib -cp build RBCPTest
When you install a Java extension, you typically put the JAR file of the extension in the lib/ext directory of your JRE. However, this command specifies the directory that contains Java extensions with the system property java.ext.dirs.
The JavaDoc for ServiceLoader.loadInstalled() also states that providers on the application's class path are ignored.
Your problem is that the java.util.ResourceBundle that comes with the JVM does a ServiceLoader.loadInstalled(ResourceBundleControlProvider.class) to obtain a list of providers in the static initializer, and uses the thus obtained list ever after.
When I launch an SWT application (via an Eclipse launch profile), I receive the following stack trace:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/eclipse/jface/resource/FontRegistry
at org.eclipse.jface.resource.JFaceResources.getFontRegistry(JFaceResources.java:338)
at org.eclipse.jface.window.Window.close(Window.java:313)
at org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.Dialog.close(Dialog.java:971)
at org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.ProgressMonitorDialog.close(ProgressMonitorDialog.java:348)
at org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.ProgressMonitorDialog.finishedRun(ProgressMonitorDialog.java:582)
at org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.ProgressMonitorDialog.run(ProgressMonitorDialog.java:498)
at com.blah.si.workflow.SWTApplication.main(SWTApplication.java:135)
Now, the things that make this odd:
When I change the project build path and replace jface.jar with the source project (same version - 3.3.1), the error goes away.
Other applications I have that use the same jar, and a copy of the same launch profile and project, all works fine.
This is NOT a ClassNotFoundException. The class is on the classpath. If I attach source to the jar, I can debug into the getFontRegistry method. The method will execute successfully several times before eventually throwing a NoClassDefFoundError on line 338. Line 337 is a "if variable == null" statement checking to see if a static variable has been initialized. Line 338 is initializing it if it is not already initialized. The first time through, the null check fails, and the initialization is performed. On subsequent passes through the method, the null check passes, and thus the already-initialized static value is returned. On the final pass (the one that fails,) the null check fails again (even though the static variable has already been initialized) and when it tries to re-initialize the static variable, the NoClassDefFoundError is thrown. Here is the relevant source (starting with line 336, note that fontRegistry is a private static variable that is set in no other place):
.
public static FontRegistry getFontRegistry() {
if (fontRegistry == null) {
fontRegistry = new FontRegistry(
"org.eclipse.jface.resource.jfacefonts");
}
return fontRegistry;
}
.
I have already gotten a fresh copy of the jar (to ensure it isn't corrupted,) deleted my .classpath and .project files and started a fresh project, and recreated the launch profile. No change.
Because of the peculiarities in #3 above, I'm suspecting some kind of wierd classloader behavior - it seems as if that final pass through the method is in another classloader?
Ideas?
Update: The answer provided by Pourquoi Litytestdata prompted me to pay attention to what happens in the try block just above line 458 of ProgressMonitorDialog. Indeed, that code was throwing an exception, which was being gobbled by the finally block. The root cause was ANOTHER missing class (the missing class was not JFontRegistry or any of its directly related classes, but another that was spider-web dependencied in an edge case.) I'm upvoting all answers pointing me to pay attention to the classpath, and accepting Pourquoi's, because it was the breakthrough. Thanks to all.
It sounds like you are missing a JAR file that holds a dependency, as mentioned in this blog entry from July 2006, written by Sanjiv JIVAN:
Difference between ClassNotFoundException and NoClassDefFoundError
A ClassNotFoundException is thrown when the reported class is not found by the ClassLoader.
This typically means that the class is missing from the CLASSPATH.
It could also mean that the class in question is trying to be loaded from another class which was loaded in a parent ClassLoader and hence the class from the child ClassLoader is not visible.
This is sometimes the case when working in more complex environments like an App Server (WebSphere is infamous for such ClassLoader issues).
People often tend to confuse java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError with java.lang.ClassNotFoundException. However there's an important distinction.
For example an exception (an error really since java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError is a subclass of java.lang.Error) like
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:
org/apache/activemq/ActiveMQConnectionFactory
does not mean that the ActiveMQConnectionFactory class is not in the CLASSPATH.
In fact, its quite the opposite.
It means that the class ActiveMQConnectionFactory was found by the ClassLoader however when trying to load the class, it ran into an error reading the class definition.
This typically happens when the class in question has static blocks or members which use a Class that's not found by the ClassLoader.
So to find the culprit, view the source of the class in question (ActiveMQConnectionFactory in this case) and look for code using static blocks or static members.
If you don't have access the the source, then simply decompile it using JAD.
On examining the code, say you find a line of code like below, make sure that the class SomeClass in in your CLASSPATH.
private static SomeClass foo = new SomeClass();
Tip : To find out which jar a class belongs to, you can use the web site jarFinder. This allows you to specify a class name using wildcards and it searches for the class in its database of jars.
jarhoo allows you to do the same thing but its no longer free to use.
If you would like to locate the which jar a class belongs to in a local path, you can use a utility like jarscan. You just specify the class you'd like to locate and the root directory path where you'd like it to start searching for the class in jars and zip files.
I think the stacktrace presented above is concealing the real problem here. Below is the code in the method run within
org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.ProgressMonitorDialog (with a comment added by me):
public void run(boolean fork, boolean cancelable,
IRunnableWithProgress runnable) throws InvocationTargetException,
InterruptedException {
setCancelable(cancelable);
try {
aboutToRun();
// Let the progress monitor know if they need to update in UI Thread
progressMonitor.forked = fork;
ModalContext.run(runnable, fork, getProgressMonitor(), getShell()
.getDisplay());
} finally {
finishedRun(); // this is line 498
}
}
The second-from-bottom line in Jared's stacktrace is line 498 of this class, which is the call to finishedRun() within the finally block. I suspect that the real cause is an exception being thrown in the try block. Since the code in the finally block also throws an exception, the original exception is lost.
To get a better handle on if it is a class loader issue go through the code where it works and add:
try
{
final Class clazz;
final ClassLoader loader;
clazz = Class.forName("org/eclipse/jface/resource/FontRegistry");
loader = clazz.getClassLoader();
System.out.println("The classloader at step 1 is: " + loader);
}
catch(final Throwable ex)
{
ex.printStackTrace();
}
And then do the same thing where you are getting the NoClassDefFoundError and see if the class loaders are different.
Then you will be able to ensure that it is the ClassLoader that is different. Can you report back with what happens with this? Depending on what the result is I might have more ideas.
To add to the excellent TofuBeer's answer, since NoClassDefFoundError indicates that:
class org.eclipse.jface.resource.FontRegistry was found by the ClassLoader,
but can not been loaded without triggering an error, like having static blocks or members which use a Class that's not found by the ClassLoader.
Let's look at org.eclipse.jface.resource.FontRegistry source code:
It does not have any static variable initialization (nor does its superclasses).
Let's look at org.eclipse.jface.resource.JFaceResources source code
The getFontRegistry() function in which the Error is triggered is using the static variable fontRegistry:
/**
* The JFace font registry; <code>null</code> until lazily initialized or
* explicitly set.
*/
private static FontRegistry fontRegistry = null;
Thus, it begs raises the question: why a static initialized variable would suddenly be considered null again ?
Because somehow FontRegistry or JFaceResources get unloaded by the gc ?!
If a field is declared static, there exists exactly one incarnation of the field, no matter how many instances (possibly zero) of the class may eventually be created. A static field, sometimes called a class variable, is incarnated when the class is initialized (§12.4).
So it doesn't matter whether instances of the class exist at any time, the field will exist as long as the Class itself has been loaded.
If this were a eclipse Plugin, this could have been related to this FAQ entry
Here is a typical scenario for a new user:
You are writing a plug-in that extends plug-in XYZ.
To get it to compile, you add a reference to the JAR file for plug-in XYZ to your project’s build path either from the Java Build Path property page or by editing the .classpath file.
When you launch a runtime workbench, the following surprising error is reported: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: XYZ.SomeClass.
Do not start looking in the Plug-ins and Fragments tab in the launch configuration for the runtime workbench.
That tab influences only which plug-ins are used for your runtime workbench and whether they are loaded from the workspace or from the Eclipse install directory.
Instead, start looking in the plug-in manifest.
Edit the plugin.xml file and ensure that XYZ is mentioned as a required plug-in.
Then, save the plugin.xml file.
This will update the project’s build path automatically.
Never manually edit the .classpath file when you are writing a plug-in.
The plug-in Manifest Editor simply overwrites any changes you make to it. Not very civilized, but that is the way it works.
If you try to load the class FontRegistry on your own (like TofoBeer described), you will find out that classes of the following JAR are dependent classes if using FontRegistry.
org.eclipse.core.commands_xxxxx.jar
You must add this JAR to your build path.
Why is it so hard to do this in Java? If you want to have any kind of module system you need to be able to load JAR files dynamically. I'm told there's a way of doing it by writing your own ClassLoader, but that's a lot of work for something that should (in my mind at least) be as easy as calling a method with a JAR file as its argument.
Any suggestions for simple code that does this?
The reason it's hard is security. Classloaders are meant to be immutable; you shouldn't be able to willy-nilly add classes to it at runtime. I'm actually very surprised that works with the system classloader. Here's how you do it making your own child classloader:
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);
Painful, but there it is.
The following solution is hackish, as it uses reflection to bypass encapsulation, but it works flawlessly:
File file = ...
URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
URLClassLoader classLoader = (URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Method method = URLClassLoader.class.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", URL.class);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(classLoader, url);
You should take a look at OSGi, e.g. implemented in the Eclipse Platform. It does exactly that. You can install, uninstall, start and stop so called bundles, which are effectively JAR files. But it does a little more, as it offers e.g. services that can be dynamically discovered in JAR files at runtime.
Or see the specification for the Java Module System.
While most solutions listed here are either hacks (pre JDK 9) hard to configure (agents) or just don't work anymore (post JDK 9) I find it really surprising that nobody mentioned a clearly documented method.
You can create a custom system class loader and then you're free to do whatever you wish. No reflection required and all classes share the same classloader.
When starting the JVM add this flag:
java -Djava.system.class.loader=com.example.MyCustomClassLoader
The classloader must have a constructor accepting a classloader, which must be set as its parent. The constructor will be called on JVM startup and the real system classloader will be passed, the main class will be loaded by the custom loader.
To add jars just call ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader() and cast it to your class.
Check out this implementation for a carefully crafted classloader. Please note, you can change the add() method to public.
How about the JCL class loader framework? I have to admit, I haven't used it, but it looks promising.
Usage example:
JarClassLoader jcl = new JarClassLoader();
jcl.add("myjar.jar"); // Load jar file
jcl.add(new URL("http://myserver.com/myjar.jar")); // Load jar from a URL
jcl.add(new FileInputStream("myotherjar.jar")); // Load jar file from stream
jcl.add("myclassfolder/"); // Load class folder
jcl.add("myjarlib/"); // Recursively load all jar files in the folder/sub-folder(s)
JclObjectFactory factory = JclObjectFactory.getInstance();
// Create object of loaded class
Object obj = factory.create(jcl, "mypackage.MyClass");
Here is a version that is not deprecated. I modified the original to remove the deprecated functionality.
/**************************************************************************************************
* Copyright (c) 2004, Federal University of So Carlos *
* *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted *
* provided that the following conditions are met: *
* *
* * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of *
* conditions and the following disclaimer. *
* * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of *
* * conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials *
* * provided with the distribution. *
* * Neither the name of the Federal University of So Carlos nor the names of its *
* * contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software *
* * without specific prior written permission. *
* *
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS *
* "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT *
* LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR *
* A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR *
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, *
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, *
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR *
* PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF *
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING *
* NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS *
* SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. *
**************************************************************************************************/
/*
* Created on Oct 6, 2004
*/
package tools;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
/**
* Useful class for dynamically changing the classpath, adding classes during runtime.
*/
public class ClasspathHacker {
/**
* Parameters of the method to add an URL to the System classes.
*/
private static final Class<?>[] parameters = new Class[]{URL.class};
/**
* Adds a file to the classpath.
* #param s a String pointing to the file
* #throws IOException
*/
public static void addFile(String s) throws IOException {
File f = new File(s);
addFile(f);
}
/**
* Adds a file to the classpath
* #param f the file to be added
* #throws IOException
*/
public static void addFile(File f) throws IOException {
addURL(f.toURI().toURL());
}
/**
* Adds the content pointed by the URL to the classpath.
* #param u the URL pointing to the content to be added
* #throws IOException
*/
public static void addURL(URL u) throws IOException {
URLClassLoader sysloader = (URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<?> sysclass = URLClassLoader.class;
try {
Method method = sysclass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL",parameters);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(sysloader,new Object[]{ u });
} catch (Throwable t) {
t.printStackTrace();
throw new IOException("Error, could not add URL to system classloader");
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException, SecurityException, ClassNotFoundException, IllegalArgumentException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException{
addFile("C:\\dynamicloading.jar");
Constructor<?> cs = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().loadClass("test.DymamicLoadingTest").getConstructor(String.class);
DymamicLoadingTest instance = (DymamicLoadingTest)cs.newInstance();
instance.test();
}
}
With Java 9, the answers with URLClassLoader now give an error like:
java.lang.ClassCastException: java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader cannot be cast to java.base/java.net.URLClassLoader
This is because the class loaders used have changed. Instead, to add to the system class loader, you can use the Instrumentation API through an agent.
Create an agent class:
package ClassPathAgent;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;
public class ClassPathAgent {
public static void agentmain(String args, Instrumentation instrumentation) throws IOException {
instrumentation.appendToSystemClassLoaderSearch(new JarFile(args));
}
}
Add META-INF/MANIFEST.MF and put it in a JAR file with the agent class:
Manifest-Version: 1.0
Agent-Class: ClassPathAgent.ClassPathAgent
Run the agent:
This uses the byte-buddy-agent library to add the agent to the running JVM:
import java.io.File;
import net.bytebuddy.agent.ByteBuddyAgent;
public class ClassPathUtil {
private static File AGENT_JAR = new File("/path/to/agent.jar");
public static void addJarToClassPath(File jarFile) {
ByteBuddyAgent.attach(AGENT_JAR, String.valueOf(ProcessHandle.current().pid()), jarFile.getPath());
}
}
Here is a quick workaround for Allain's method to make it compatible with newer versions of Java:
ClassLoader classLoader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
try {
Method method = classLoader.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("addURL", URL.class);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(classLoader, new File(jarPath).toURI().toURL());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
Method method = classLoader.getClass()
.getDeclaredMethod("appendToClassPathForInstrumentation", String.class);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(classLoader, jarPath);
}
Note that it relies on knowledge of internal implementation of specific JVM, so it's not ideal and it's not a universal solution. But it's a quick and easy workaround if you know that you are going to use standard OpenJDK or Oracle JVM. It might also break at some point in future when new JVM version is released, so you need to keep that in mind.
The best I've found is org.apache.xbean.classloader.JarFileClassLoader which is part of the XBean project.
Here's a short method I've used in the past, to create a class loader from all the lib files in a specific directory
public void initialize(String libDir) throws Exception {
File dependencyDirectory = new File(libDir);
File[] files = dependencyDirectory.listFiles();
ArrayList<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>();
for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
if (files[i].getName().endsWith(".jar")) {
urls.add(files[i].toURL());
//urls.add(files[i].toURI().toURL());
}
}
classLoader = new JarFileClassLoader("Scheduler CL" + System.currentTimeMillis(),
urls.toArray(new URL[urls.size()]),
GFClassLoader.class.getClassLoader());
}
Then to use the classloader, just do:
classLoader.loadClass(name);
If you are working on Android, the following code works:
String jarFile = "path/to/jarfile.jar";
DexClassLoader classLoader = new DexClassLoader(jarFile, "/data/data/" + context.getPackageName() + "/", null, getClass().getClassLoader());
Class<?> myClass = classLoader.loadClass("MyClass");
I know I'm late to the party, but I have been using pf4j, which is a plug-in framework, and it works pretty well.
PF4J is a microframework and the aim is to keep the core simple but extensible.
An example of plugin usage:
Define an extension point in your application/plugin using ExtensionPoint interface marker:
public interface Greeting extends ExtensionPoint {
String getGreeting();
}
Create an extension using #Extension annotation:
#Extension
public class WelcomeGreeting implements Greeting {
public String getGreeting() {
return "Welcome";
}
}
Then you can load and unload the plugin as you wish:
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create the plugin manager
PluginManager pluginManager = new JarPluginManager(); // or "new ZipPluginManager() / new DefaultPluginManager()"
// start and load all plugins of application
pluginManager.loadPlugins();
pluginManager.startPlugins();
// retrieve all extensions for "Greeting" extension point
List<Greeting> greetings = pluginManager.getExtensions(Greeting.class);
for (Greeting greeting : greetings) {
System.out.println(">>> " + greeting.getGreeting());
}
// stop and unload all plugins
pluginManager.stopPlugins();
pluginManager.unloadPlugins();
}
For further details please refer to the documentation
Another working solution using Instrumentation that works for me. It has the advantage of modifying the class loader search, avoiding problems on class visibility for dependent classes:
Create an Agent Class
For this example, it has to be on the same jar invoked by the command line:
package agent;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;
public class Agent {
public static Instrumentation instrumentation;
public static void premain(String args, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
Agent.instrumentation = instrumentation;
}
public static void agentmain(String args, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
Agent.instrumentation = instrumentation;
}
public static void appendJarFile(JarFile file) throws IOException {
if (instrumentation != null) {
instrumentation.appendToSystemClassLoaderSearch(file);
}
}
}
Modify the MANIFEST.MF
Adding the reference to the agent:
Launcher-Agent-Class: agent.Agent
Agent-Class: agent.Agent
Premain-Class: agent.Agent
I actually use Netbeans, so this post helps on how to change the manifest.mf
Running
The Launcher-Agent-Class is only supported on JDK 9+ and is responsible for loading the agent without explicitly defining it on the command line:
java -jar <your jar>
The way that works on JDK 6+ is defining the -javaagent argument:
java -javaagent:<your jar> -jar <your jar>
Adding new Jar at Runtime
You can then add jar as necessary using the following command:
Agent.appendJarFile(new JarFile(<your file>));
I did not find any problems using this on documentation.
The solution proposed by jodonnell is good but should be a little bit enhanced. I used this post to develop my application with success.
Assign the current thread
Firstly we have to add
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(classLoader);
or you will not able to load resource (such as spring/context.xml) stored into the jar.
Do not include
your jars into the parent class loader or you will not able to understand who is loading what.
see also Problem reloading a jar using URLClassLoader
However, OSGi framework remain the best way.
Another version of the hackish solution from Allain, that also works on JDK 11:
File file = ...
URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
URLClassLoader sysLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[0]);
Method sysMethod = URLClassLoader.class.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{URL.class});
sysMethod.setAccessible(true);
sysMethod.invoke(sysLoader, new Object[]{url});
On JDK 11 it gives some deprecation warnings but serves as a temporary solution those who use Allain solution on JDK 11.
In case anyone searches for this in the future, this way works for me with OpenJDK 13.0.2.
I have many classes that I need to instantiate dynamically at runtime, each potentially with a different classpath.
In this code, I already have an object called pack, that holds some metadata about the class I am trying to load. The getObjectFile() method returns the location of the class file for the class. The getObjectRootPath() method returns the path to the bin/ directory containing the class files that include the class I am trying to instantiate. The getLibPath() method returns the path to a directory containing the jar files constituting the classpath for the module the class is a part of.
File object = new File(pack.getObjectFile()).getAbsoluteFile();
Object packObject;
try {
URLClassLoader classloader;
List<URL> classpath = new ArrayList<>();
classpath.add(new File(pack.getObjectRootPath()).toURI().toURL());
for (File jar : FileUtils.listFiles(new File(pack.getLibPath()), new String[] {"jar"}, true)) {
classpath.add(jar.toURI().toURL());
}
classloader = new URLClassLoader(classpath.toArray(new URL[] {}));
Class<?> clazz = classloader.loadClass(object.getName());
packObject = clazz.getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw e;
}
return packObject;
I was using the Maven dependency: org.xeustechnologies:jcl-core:2.8 to do this before, but after moving past JDK 1.8, it sometimes froze and never returned being stuck "waiting for references" at Reference::waitForReferencePendingList().
I am also keeping a map of class loaders so that they can be reused if the class I am trying to instantiate is in the same module as a class that I have already instantiated, which I would recommend.
please take a look at this project that i started: proxy-object lib
This lib will load jar from file system or any other location. It will dedicate a class loader for the jar to make sure there are no library conflicts. Users will be able to create any object from the loaded jar and call any method on it.
This lib was designed to load jars compiled in Java 8 from the code base that supports Java 7.
To create an object:
File libDir = new File("path/to/jar");
ProxyCallerInterface caller = ObjectBuilder.builder()
.setClassName("net.proxy.lib.test.LibClass")
.setArtifact(DirArtifact.builder()
.withClazz(ObjectBuilderTest.class)
.withVersionInfo(newVersionInfo(libDir))
.build())
.build();
String version = caller.call("getLibVersion").asString();
ObjectBuilder supports factory methods, calling static functions, and call back interface implementations.
i will be posting more examples on the readme page.
This can be a late response, I can do it as this (a simple example for fastutil-8.2.2.jar) using jhplot.Web class from DataMelt (http://jwork.org/dmelt)
import jhplot.Web;
Web.load("http://central.maven.org/maven2/it/unimi/dsi/fastutil/8.2.2/fastutil-8.2.2.jar"); // now you can start using this library
According to the documentation, this file will be download inside "lib/user" and then dynamically loaded, so you can start immediately using classes from this jar file in the same program.
I needed to load a jar file at runtime for both java 8 and java 9+ (above comments don't work for both of these versions). Here is the method to do it (using Spring Boot 1.5.2 if it may relate).
public static synchronized void loadLibrary(java.io.File jar) {
try {
java.net.URL url = jar.toURI().toURL();
java.lang.reflect.Method method = java.net.URLClassLoader.class.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{java.net.URL.class});
method.setAccessible(true); /*promote the method to public access*/
method.invoke(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(), new Object[]{url});
} catch (Exception ex) {
throw new RuntimeException("Cannot load library from jar file '" + jar.getAbsolutePath() + "'. Reason: " + ex.getMessage());
}
}
For dynamic uploading of jar files, you can use my modification of URLClassLoader. This modification has no problem with changing the jar file during application operation, like the standard URLClassloader. All loaded jar files are loaded into RAM and thus independent of the original file.
In-memory jar and JDBC class loader
I personally find that java.util.ServiceLoader does the job pretty well. You can get an example here.