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How to access java file which resides inside SDCard in Android

I am trying to load a Java file to my android project using URLClassLoader class.
But I got a ClassNotFoundError when I run the below code:
package com.xyz.abc;
public class ConstantClassReader
{
public void readFile() throws MalformedURLException
{
String url = "file://"+Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath()+"/StringConstants.class";
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(new URL[]{new URL(url)});
Class simpleClass = null;
try {
simpleClass = urlClassLoader.loadClass("com.xyz.abc.StringConstants");
Constructor simpleConstructor = simpleClass.getConstructor();
Object simpleClassObj = simpleConstructor.newInstance();
Method method = simpleClass.getMethod("myMethod");
method.invoke(simpleClassObj);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchMethodException | IllegalAccessException | InstantiationException | InvocationTargetException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
The below Java file is resides inside my SDCard:
package com.xyz.abc;
public class StringConstants{
public void myMethod(){
System.out.println("myMethod Loaded");
}
}

A class loader loads classes.
Putting a Java source file somewhere will not do.
You have to compile that file; and maybe you are lucky then. But I would be rather surprised if the Android JVM allows you to load classes from arbitrary places. This screams: "security problem" all over the place.
Given your requirement, I would suggest a different solution, something on top of ordinary Java properties. Meaning: it seems that you simply want to provide some "configuration" information dynamically to your Java app. Then have that app read a properties file that contains key/value pairs. That is (almost) business as usual; and not leading to a need to load class files in arbitrary places.

http://www.beanshell.org/
you can embed beanshell, load the java file, instance and execute whatever.
access the java file as any other plain file from the sd
How can I read a text file from the SD card in Android?

Load jar dynamically at runtime?

My current java project is using methods and variables from another project (same package). Right now the other project's jar has to be in the classpath to work correctly. My problem here is that the name of the jar can and will change because of increasing versions, and because you cannot use wildcards in the manifest classpath, it's impossible to add it to the classpath. So currently the only option of starting my application is using the -cp argument from the command line, manually adding the other jar my project depends on.
To improve this, I wanted to load the jar dynamically and read about using the ClassLoader. I read a lot of examples for it, however I still don't understand how to use it in my case.
What I want is it to load a jar file, lets say, myDependency-2.4.1-SNAPSHOT.jar, but it should be able to just search for a jar file starting with myDependency- because as I already said the version number can change at anytime. Then I should just be able to use it's methods and variables in my Code just like I do now (like ClassInMyDependency.exampleMethod()).
Can anyone help me with this, as I've been searching the web for a few hours now and still don't get how to use the ClassLoader to do what I just explained.
Many thanks in advance

(Applies to Java version 8 and earlier).
Indeed this is occasionally necessary. This is how I do this in production. It uses reflection to circumvent the encapsulation of addURL in the system class loader.
/*
* Adds the supplied Java Archive library to java.class.path. This is benign
* if the library is already loaded.
*/
public static synchronized void loadLibrary(java.io.File jar) throws MyException
{
try {
/*We are using reflection here to circumvent encapsulation; addURL is not public*/
java.net.URLClassLoader loader = (java.net.URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
java.net.URL url = jar.toURI().toURL();
/*Disallow if already loaded*/
for (java.net.URL it : java.util.Arrays.asList(loader.getURLs())){
if (it.equals(url)){
return;
}
}
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(loader, new Object[]{url});
} catch (final java.lang.NoSuchMethodException |
java.lang.IllegalAccessException |
java.net.MalformedURLException |
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException e){
throw new MyException(e);
}
}

I needed to load a jar file at runtime for both java 8 and java 9+. 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());
}
}

load class from another class within same jar in java web start fails

I've a javafx application which is run by web start. In my fx application, I try to load the classes using ClassLoader as in below code. The parameter passed is a package name like "com.example.project.abcd"
public final static List<Class<?>> find(final String scannedPackage)
{
final ClassLoader classLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
final String scannedPath = scannedPackage.replace(DOT, SLASH);
final Enumeration<URL> resources;
try {
resources = classLoader.getResources(scannedPath);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format(BAD_PACKAGE_ERROR, scannedPath, scannedPackage), e);
}
final List<Class<?>> classes = new LinkedList<Class<?>>();
while (resources.hasMoreElements()) {
final File file = new File(resources.nextElement().getFile());
classes.addAll(find(file, scannedPackage));
}
return classes;
}
Now I'm not able to get all the classes present inside "com.example.project.abcd" package when I run it thru java web start but through IDE it is working fine.
I'm using JDK 7, JavaFX 2.
As per http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/javaws/developersguide/faq.html#s211 Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() should work fine but it is not!.
Tried searching on net/googling but in vain. Checked http://lopica.sourceforge.net/faq.html#customcl as well and tried using URLClassLoader as suggested. But that didn't work as well (Though did not know what should be passed to the parameter 'urls')
Any help is much apreciated.

I think this works in IDE because your BIN/classes directory is used to get all the files.
In Webstart-Mode, all your classes are inside JARs.

How to load one of same named resources from different jars in a classpath?

Let's say there is a jar main.jar which depends on two other jars - dep1.jar and dep2.jar. Both dependencies are in a classpath in MANIFEST.MF of main.jar. Each of dependency jars has a directory foo inside with a file bar.txt within:
dep1.jar
|
\--foo/
|
\--bar.txt
dep2.jar
|
\--foo/
|
\--bar.txt
Here is a main class of main.jar:
public class App
{
public static void main( String[] args ) {
ApplicationContext ctx = new StaticApplicationContext();
Resource barResource = ctx.getResource("classpath:foo/bar.txt");
}
}
Which of two bar.txt files will be loaded? Is there a way to specify in a resource URL a jar the file should be loaded from?

Which one you get is undefined. However, you can use
Resource[] barResource = ctx.getResources("classpath*:foo/bar.txt");
to get them both (all). The URL in the Resource will tell you which jar they are in (though I don't recommend you start programming based on that information).

Flip a quarter, that's the one you'll get. Most likely, it will be the one highest alphabetically, so in your case the one inside dep1.jar. The files both have identical classpaths (foo.Bar), and while this should look to throw a compile time exception, it will not because it will just package both jars up and not try to compile/look at the (this specific file) file as it is a .txt file.

You wouldn't expect a compile time exception as resource loading is a run time process.
You can't specify which jar the resource will come from in code, and this is a common issue, particularly when someone bundles something like log4j.properties into a jar file.
What you can do is specify the order of jars in your classpath, and it will pick up the resource from the first one in the list. This is tricky in itself as when you are using something like ivy or maven for classpath dependencies, you are not in control of the ordering in the classpath (in the eclipse plugins at any rate).
The only reliable solution is to call the resources something different, or put them in separate packages.

The specification says that the first class/resource on the class path is taken (AFAIK).
However I would try:
Dep1Class.class.getResource("/foo/bar.txt");
Dep2Class.class.getResource("/foo/bar.txt");
As Class.getResource works cannot take resources from another jar, as opposed to the system class loader.
With a bit of luck, you will not need to play with ClassLoaders and hava a different class loader load dep2.jar.

As #Sotirios said, you can get all resources with the same name using ctx.getResources(...), code such as :
ApplicationContext ctx = new StaticApplicationContext();
Resource[] resources = ctx.getResources("classpath*:/foo/bar.txt");
for (Resource resource : resources) {
System.out.println("resource file: " + resource.getURL());
InputStream is = new FileInputStream(resource.getFile());
if (is == null) {
System.out.println("resource is null");
System.exit(-1);
}
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(is);
while(scanner.hasNextLine()) {
System.out.println(scanner.nextLine());
}
}

Building a ServiceLoader file with gradle: howto?

I am starting to switch from a well-known Java build system to Gradle to build all my projects, and after barely two hours into it I have already been able to publish a new version of one of my projects without a problem -- a breeze.
But now I encounter a difficulty. In short, I need to replicate the functionality of this Maven plugin which generates the necessary files for a ServiceLoader-enabled service.
In short: given a base class foo.bar.MyClass, it generates a file named META-INF/services/foo.bar.MyClass whose content is a set of classes in the current project which implement that interface/extend that base class. Such a file would look like:
com.mycompany.MyClassImpl
org.othercompany.MyClassImpl
In order to do this, it uses I don't know what as a classloader, loads the Class objects for com.myCompany.MyClassImpl or whatever and checks whether this class implements the wanted interface.
I am trying to do the same in Gradle. Hours of googling led me to this plugin, but after discussing with its author a little, it appears this plugin is able to merge such files, not create them. So, I have to do that myself...
And I am a real beginner both with Gradle and Groovy, which does not help! Here is my current code, link to the full build.gradle here; output (which I managed to get somehow; doesn't work from a clean dir) shown below (and please bear with me... I do Java, and I am final happy; Groovy is totally new to me):
/*
* TEST CODE
*/
final int CLASS_SUFFIX = ".class".length();
final URLClassLoader classLoader = this.class.classLoader;
// Where the classes are: OK
final File classesDir = sourceSets.main.output.classesDir;
final String basePath = classesDir.getCanonicalPath();
// Add them to the classloader: OK
classLoader.addURL(classesDir.toURI().toURL())
// Recurse over each file
classesDir.eachFileRecurse {
// You "return" from a closure, you do not "continue"...
if (!isPotentialClass(it))
return;
// Transform into a class name
final String path = it.getAbsolutePath();
final String name = path.substring(basePath.length() + 1);
final String className = name.substring(0, name.length() - CLASS_SUFFIX)
.replace('/', '.');
// Try and load it
try {
classLoader.loadClass(className);
println(className);
} catch (NoClassDefFoundError ignored) {
println("failed to load " + className + ": " + ignored);
}
}
boolean isPotentialClass(final File file)
{
return file.isFile() && file.name.endsWith(".class")
}
The output:
com.github.fge.msgsimple.InternalBundle
failed to load com.github.fge.msgsimple.bundle.MessageBundle: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/github/fge/Frozen
failed to load com.github.fge.msgsimple.bundle.MessageBundleBuilder: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/github/fge/Thawed
com.github.fge.msgsimple.bundle.PropertiesBundle$1
com.github.fge.msgsimple.bundle.PropertiesBundle
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.MessageSourceProvider
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.LoadingMessageSourceProvider$1
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.LoadingMessageSourceProvider$2
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.LoadingMessageSourceProvider$3
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.LoadingMessageSourceProvider$Builder
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.LoadingMessageSourceProvider
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.MessageSourceLoader
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.StaticMessageSourceProvider$Builder
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.StaticMessageSourceProvider$1
com.github.fge.msgsimple.provider.StaticMessageSourceProvider
com.github.fge.msgsimple.source.MessageSource
com.github.fge.msgsimple.source.MapMessageSource$Builder
com.github.fge.msgsimple.source.MapMessageSource$1
com.github.fge.msgsimple.source.MapMessageSource
com.github.fge.msgsimple.source.PropertiesMessageSource
com.github.fge.msgsimple.locale.LocaleUtils
com.github.fge.msgsimple.serviceloader.MessageBundleFactory
com.github.fge.msgsimple.serviceloader.MessageBundleProvider
:compileJava UP-TO-DATE
The problem is in the two first lines: Frozen and Thawed are in a different project, which is in the compile classpath but not in the classpath I managed to grab so far... As such, these classes cannot even load.
How do I modify that code so as to have the full compile classpath availabe? Is my first question. Second question: how do I plug that code, when it works, into the build process?

Here are some hints:
Create a new URLClassLoader, rather than reusing an existing one.
Initialize the class loader with sourceSets.main.compileClasspath (which is an Iterable<File>) rather than classesDir.
Turn the code into a Gradle task class. For more information, see "Writing a simple task class" in the Gradle User Guide.
Ideally, you'd use a library like ASM to analyze the code, rather than using a class loader. To avoid the case where you cannot load a class because it internally references a class that's not on the compile class path, you may want to initialize the class loader with sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath instead.