It is possible to load and reload classes at runtime in Java,
though it is not as straightforward as one might have hoped. This
text will explain when and how you can load and reload classes in
Java.
You can argue whether Java's dynamic class loading features are
really part of Java Reflection, or a part of the core Java
platform. Anyways, the article has been put in the Java Reflection
trail in lack of a better place to put it.
Here is a list of the topics covered in this text:
The ClassLoader
All classes in a Java application are loaded using some subclass
of java.lang.ClassLoader. Loading classes dynamically
must therefore also be done using a
java.lang.ClassLoader subclass.
When a class is loaded, all classes it references are loaded
too. This class loading pattern happens recursively, until all
classes needed are loaded. This may not be all classes in the
application. Unreferenced classes are not loaded until the time
they are referenced.
The ClassLoader Hierarchy
Class loaders in Java are organized into a hierarchy. When you
create a new standard Java ClassLoader you must
provide it with a parent ClassLoader. If a
ClassLoader is asked to load a class, it will ask its
parent class loader to load it. If the parent class loader can't
find the class, the child class loader then tries to load it
itself.
Class Loading
The steps a given class loader uses when loading classes
are:
Check if the class was already loaded.
If not loaded, ask parent class loader to load the class.
If parent class loader cannot load class, attempt to load it in
this class loader.
When you implement a class loader that is capable of reloading
classes you will need to deviate a bit from this sequence. The
classes to reload should not be requested loaded by the parent
class loader. More on that later.
Dynamic Class Loading
Loading a class dynamically is easy. All you need to do is to
obtain a ClassLoader and call its
loadClass() method. Here is an example:
public class MainClass {
public static void main(String[] args){
ClassLoader classLoader = MainClass.class.getClassLoader();
try {
Class aClass = classLoader.loadClass("com.jenkov.MyClass");
System.out.println("aClass.getName() = " + aClass.getName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Dynamic Class Reloading
Dynamic class reloading is a bit more challenging. Java's
builtin Class loaders always checks if a class is already loaded
before loading it. Reloading the class is therefore not possible
using Java's builtin class loaders. To reload a class you will have
to implement your own ClassLoader subclass.
Even with a custom subclass of ClassLoader you have
a challenge. Every loaded class needs to be linked. This is done
using the ClassLoader.resolve() method. This method is
final, and thus cannot be overridden in your
ClassLoader subclass. The resolve()
method will not allow any given ClassLoader instance
to link the same class twice. Therefore, everytime you want to
reload a class you must use a new instance of your
ClassLoader subclass. This is not impossible, but
necessary to know when designing for class reloading.
Designing your Code for Class Reloading
As stated earlier you cannot reload a class using a
ClassLoader that has already loaded that class once.
Therefore you will have to reload the class using a different
ClassLoader instance. But this poses som new
challenges.
Every class loaded in a Java application is identified by its
fully qualified name (package name + class name), and the
ClassLoader instance that loaded it. That means, that
a class MyObject loaded by class loader A, is not the
same class as the MyObject class loaded with class
loader B. Look at this code:
MyObject object = (MyObject)
myClassReloadingFactory.newInstance("com.jenkov.MyObject");
Notice how the MyObject class is referenced in the
code, as the type of the object variable. This causes
the MyObject class to be loaded by the same class
loader that loaded the class this code is residing in.
If the myClassReloadingFactory object factory
reloads the MyObject class using a different class
loader than the class the above code resides in, you cannot cast
the instance of the reloaded MyObject class to the
MyObject type of the object variable.
Since the two MyObject classes were loaded with
different class loaders, the are regarded as different classes,
even if they have the same fully qualified class name. Trying to
cast an object of the one class to a reference of the other will
result in a ClassCastException.
It is possible to work around this limitation but you will have
to change your code in either of two ways:
Use an interface as the variable type, and just reload the
implementing class.
Use a superclass as the variable type, and just reload a
subclass.
Here are two coresponding code examples:
MyObjectInterface object = (MyObjectInterface)
myClassReloadingFactory.newInstance("com.jenkov.MyObject");
MyObjectSuperclass object = (MyObjectSuperclass)
myClassReloadingFactory.newInstance("com.jenkov.MyObject");
Either of these two methods will work if the type of the
variable, the interface or superclass, is not reloaded when the
implementing class or subclass is reloaded.
To make this work you will of course need to implement your
class loader to let the interface or superclass be loaded by its
parent. When your class loader is asked to load the
MyObject class, it will also be asked to load the
MyObjectInterface class, or the
MyObjectSuperclass class, since these are referenced
from within the MyObject class. Your class loader must
delegate the loading of those classes to the same class loader that
loaded the class containing the interface or superclass typed
variables.
ClassLoader Load / Reload Example
The text above has contained a lot of talk. Let's look at a
simple example. Below is an example of a simple
ClassLoader subclass. Notice how it delegates class
loading to its parent except for the one class it is intended to be
able to reload. If the loading of this class is delegated to the
parent class loader, it cannot be reloaded later. Remember, a class
can only be loaded once by the same ClassLoader
instance.
As said earlier, this is just an example that serves to show you
the basics of a ClassLoader's behaviour. It is not a
production ready template for your own class loaders. Your own
class loaders should probably not be limited to a single class, but
a collection of classes that you know you will need to reload. In
addition, you should probably not hardcode the class paths
either.
public class MyClassLoader extends ClassLoader{
public MyClassLoader(ClassLoader parent) {
super(parent);
}
public Class loadClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
if(!"reflection.MyObject".equals(name))
return super.loadClass(name);
try {
String url = "file:C:/data/projects/tutorials/web/WEB-INF/" +
"classes/reflection/MyObject.class";
URL myUrl = new URL(url);
URLConnection connection = myUrl.openConnection();
InputStream input = connection.getInputStream();
ByteArrayOutputStream buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
int data = input.read();
while(data != -1){
buffer.write(data);
data = input.read();
}
input.close();
byte[] classData = buffer.toByteArray();
return defineClass("reflection.MyObject",
classData, 0, classData.length);
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
}
Below is an example use of the MyClassLoader.
public static void main(String[] args) throws
ClassNotFoundException,
IllegalAccessException,
InstantiationException {
ClassLoader parentClassLoader = MyClassLoader.class.getClassLoader();
MyClassLoader classLoader = new MyClassLoader(parentClassLoader);
Class myObjectClass = classLoader.loadClass("reflection.MyObject");
AnInterface2 object1 =
(AnInterface2) myObjectClass.newInstance();
MyObjectSuperClass object2 =
(MyObjectSuperClass) myObjectClass.newInstance();
//create new class loader so classes can be reloaded.
classLoader = new MyClassLoader(parentClassLoader);
myObjectClass = classLoader.loadClass("reflection.MyObject");
object1 = (AnInterface2) myObjectClass.newInstance();
object2 = (MyObjectSuperClass) myObjectClass.newInstance();
}
Here is the reflection.MyObject class that is loaded
using the class loader. Notice how it both extends a superclass and
implements an interface. This is just for the sake of the example.
In your own code you would only have to one of the two - extend or
implement.
public class MyObject extends MyObjectSuperClass implements AnInterface2{
//... body of class ... override superclass methods
// or implement interface methods
}