Android ClassLoader: loadClass fails if the class implements an interface - java

I'm using the following code to dynamically load a class from an external package:
Object plugin = null;
String packageName = "unipd.elia.deltapluginaccelerometersensor";
String className = "unipd.elia.deltapluginaccelerometersensor.AccelerometerPlugin";
try {
PackageManager packageManager = getPackageManager();
ApplicationInfo appInfo = packageManager.getApplicationInfo(packageName, 0);
DexFile df = new DexFile(appInfo.sourceDir);
ClassLoader cl = getClassLoader();
Class classToInvestigate = df.loadClass(className, cl);
plugin = classToInvestigate.newInstance();
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("EXCEPTION");
}
The problem is the following: if the class I try to load is a "simple" class everything goes fine, but if it implents an interface the loading fails. Here's an example of a class that fails to load:
package unipd.elia.deltapluginaccelerometersensor;
public class AccelerometerPlugin implements IDeltaPlugin {
#Override
public String getPluginName() {
return "Accelerometer Sensor Plugin";
}
#Override
public String getPluginID() {
return "delta.plugin.accelerometersensor";
}
#Override
public String getPluginAuthor() {
return "Me";
}
}
And the interface it implements:
public interface IDeltaPlugin {
String getPluginName();
String getPluginID();
String getPluginAuthor();
}
Basically the call to loadClass() returns null if the class implements the interface. Remove the "implements" statement and it loads fine.
What am I doing wrong?

Well, turns out the problem was that the interface in question was in an Android Library project shared by both the app that was doing the loading and the apk where the class to load was defined.
The ClassLoader then gets confused because it finds two copies of the same interface in the classpath.
The solution: turn the shared library into a JAR library and in the plugin apk import it in "provided" (rather than "compile") mode. This way only one copy of the interface exists (the one in the apk that is doing the classloading)

Related

Java 9, compatability issue with ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader

The following code adds jar file to the build path, it works fine with Java 8. However, it throws exception with Java 9, the exception is related to the cast to URLClassLoader. Any ideas how this can be solved? an optimal solution will edit it to work with both Java 8 & 9.
private static int AddtoBuildPath(File f) {
try {
URI u = f.toURI();
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<URLClassLoader> urlClass = URLClassLoader.class;
Method method = urlClass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", URL.class);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(urlClassLoader, u.toURL());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException | SecurityException | IllegalArgumentException | InvocationTargetException | MalformedURLException | IllegalAccessException ex) {
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
You've run into the fact that the system class loader is no longer a URLClassLoader. As indicated by ClassLoader::getSystemClassLoader's return type, this was an implementation detail, albeit one that a non-negligible amount of code relied upon.
Judging by the comments, you are looking for a way to dynamically load classes at run time. As Alan Bateman points out, this can not be done in Java 9 by appending to the class path.
You should instead consider creating a new class loader for that. This has the added advantage that you'll be able to get rid of the new classes as they are not loaded into the application class loader. If you're compiling against Java 9, you should read up on layers - they give you a clean abstraction for loading an entirely new module graph.
I have stumbled over this issue a while ago. As many, I had used a method similar to that in the question
private static int AddtoBuildPath(File f)
to dynamically add paths to the classpath at runtime. The code in the question is probably bad style in multiple aspects: 1) assuming that ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader() returns an URLClassLoader is an undocumented implementation detail and 2) using reflection to make addURL public is maybe another one.
Cleaner way to dynamically add classpaths
In case that you need to use the additional classpath URLs for class loading through „Class.forName“, a clean, elegant and compatible (Java 8 to 10) solution is the following:
1) Write your own class loader by extending URL classloader, having a public addURL method
public class MyClassloader extends URLClassLoader {
public MyClassloader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent) {
super(urls, parent);
}
public void addURL(URL url) {
super.addURL(url);
}
}
2) Declare a (singleton/app wide) object of your classloader
private final MyClassloader classLoader;
and instanciate it via
classLoader = new MyClassloader(new URL[0], this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Note: The system class loader is the parent. Classes loaded though classLoader know those who can be loaded through this.getClass().getClassLoader() but not the other way around.
3) Add additional classpaths whenever needed (dynamically):
File file = new File(path);
if(file.exists()) {
URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
classLoader.addURL(url);
}
4) Instanciate objects or your app though your singleton classloader via
cls = Class.forName(name, true, classLoader);
Note: Since class loaders try a delegation to the parent class loader prior loading a class (and the parent to its parent), you have to make sure that the class to load is not visible to the parent class loader to make sure that it is loaded through the given class loader. To make this clearer: if you have ClassPathB on your system class path and later add ClassPathB and some ClassPathA to your custom classLoader, then classes under ClassPathB will be loaded through the system classloader and classes under ClassPathA are not known to them. However, if you remove ClassPathB from you system class path, such classes will be loaded through your custom classLoader, and then classes under ClassPathA are known to those under ClassPathB.
5) You may consider passing your class loader to a thread via
setContextClassLoader(classLoader)
in case that thread uses getContextClassLoader.
If you're just looking to read the current classpath, for example because you want to spin up another JVM with the same classpath as the current one, you can do the following:
object ClassloaderHelper {
def getURLs(classloader: ClassLoader) = {
// jdk9+ need to use reflection
val clazz = classloader.getClass
val field = clazz.getDeclaredField("ucp")
field.setAccessible(true)
val value = field.get(classloader)
value.asInstanceOf[URLClassPath].getURLs
}
}
val classpath =
(
// jdk8
// ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader.asInstanceOf[URLClassLoader].getURLs ++
// getClass.getClassLoader.asInstanceOf[URLClassLoader].getURLs
// jdk9+
ClassloaderHelper.getURLs(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader) ++
ClassloaderHelper.getURLs(getClass.getClassLoader)
)
By default the final fields in the $AppClassLoader class cannot be accesed via reflection, an extra flag needs to be passed to the JVM:
--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED
I was given a spring boot application that runs in Java 8. I had the task to upgrade it to Java 11 version.
Issue faced:
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader (in module: java.base) cannot be cast to java.net.URLClassLoader (in module: java.base)
Way around used:
Create a class:
import java.net.URL;
/**
* This class has been created to make the code compatible after migration to Java 11
* From the JDK 9 release notes: "The application class loader is no longer an instance of
* java.net.URLClassLoader (an implementation detail that was never specified in previous releases).
* Code that assumes that ClassLoader.getSytemClassLoader() returns a URLClassLoader object will
* need to be updated. Note that Java SE and the JDK do not provide an API for applications or
* libraries to dynamically augment the class path at run-time."
*/
public class ClassLoaderConfig {
private final MockClassLoader classLoader;
ClassLoaderConfig() {
this.classLoader = new MockClassLoader(new URL[0], this.getClass().getClassLoader());
}
public MockClassLoader getClassLoader() {
return this.classLoader;
}
}
Create Another class:
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
public class MockClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
public MockClassLoader(URL[] urls, ClassLoader parent) {
super(urls, parent);
}
public void addURL(URL url) {
super.addURL(url);
}
}
Now set it in the current thread from your main class (Right at the beginning of your application)
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(new ClassLoaderConfig().getClassLoader());
Hope this solution works for your!!!
Shadov pointed to a thread at the oracle community. There is the correct answer:
Class.forName("nameofclass", true, new URLClassLoader(urlarrayofextrajarsordirs));
The caveats mentioned there are also important:
Caveats:
java.util.ServiceLoader uses the thread's ClassLoader context Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(specialloader);
java.sql.DriverManager does honors the calling class' ClassLoader, -not- the Thread's ClassLoader. Create Driver directly using Class.forName("drivername", true, new URLClassLoader(urlarrayofextrajarsordirs).newInstance();
javax.activation uses the thread's ClassLoader context (important for javax.mail).
Referring to Edi's Solution this worked for me:
public final class IndependentClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private static final ClassLoader INSTANCE = new IndependentClassLoader();
/**
* #return instance
*/
public static ClassLoader getInstance() {
return INSTANCE;
}
private IndependentClassLoader() {
super(getAppClassLoaderUrls(), null);
}
private static URL[] getAppClassLoaderUrls() {
return getURLs(IndependentClassLoader.class.getClassLoader());
}
private static URL[] getURLs(ClassLoader classLoader) {
Class<?> clazz = classLoader.getClass();
try {
Field field = null;
field = clazz.getDeclaredField("ucp");
field.setAccessible(true);
Object urlClassPath = field.get(classLoader);
Method method = urlClassPath.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("getURLs", new Class[] {});
method.setAccessible(true);
URL[] urls = (URL[]) method.invoke(urlClassPath, new Object[] {});
return urls;
} catch (Exception e) {
throw new NestableRuntimeException(e);
}
}
}
Running within Eclipse, you need to set VM Arguments to JUnit Launch/Debug Configuration.
Running with maven via command line you have two options:
Option 1
Add following lines to pom.xml :
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.16</version>
<configuration>
<argLine>--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED</argLine>
</configuration>
</plugin>
Option 2
run mvn test -DargLine="-Dsystem.test.property=--add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.loader=ALL-UNNAMED"
There's also this guys article that helped me.
I could not find the article but... here: https://github.com/CGJennings/jar-loader
Here's a part of guide inside there there's a jar at release you could read his guide & setup it up.
I just tried it myself download the jar file which include the class file
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;
public final class classname{
public static void premain(String agentArgs, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
loadedViaPreMain = true;
agentmain(agentArgs,instrumentation);
}
public final static void addToClassPath(File jarfile)throws IOException{inst.appendToSystemClassLoaderSearch(new JarFile(jarfile));}
public final static void agentmain(String agentArgs, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
if (instrumentation == null){throw new NullPointerException("instrumentation");}
if (inst == null) {inst = instrumentation;}
}
private static Instrumentation inst;
private static boolean loadedViaPreMain = false;
}
I just try it out myself package these code as a package then start the application class with -javaagent:plugin......jar option then call this function.It doesn't change my classpath.I am probably missing some details here.
Hope you can make it work though.
i found this, and worked for me.
String pathSeparator = Syste .getProperty("path.separator");
String[] classPathEntries = System.getProperty("java.class.path") .split(pathSeparator);
from the web site https://blog.codefx.org/java/java-11-migration-guide/#Casting-To-URL-Class-Loader

Java - Strange behaviour with dynamic class loader

In my code I want to dynamically load Module class implementations from Jar files.
In my directory I have 3 files: A.jar, B.jar, C.jar
Each jar has one class called Main which extends Module class
A.jar code example:
public class Main extends Module {
private static String name = "A";
public Main() {
super(name);
}
}
(B and C files are the same but with "B" and "C" instead of "A" in the name property).
My Module class code is:
public abstract class Module{
private StringProperty nameProperty;
public Module(String name){
this.nameProperty = new SimpleStringProperty(name);
}
public StringProperty nameProperty(){
return nameProperty;
}
}
This is the code that I use to dynamically load the three classes:
for (File moduleFile : Data.modulesDir.listFiles()) {
try {
URL url = moduleFile.toURI().toURL();
Class[] parameters = new Class[] { URL.class };
URLClassLoader sysLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class<URLClassLoader> sysClass = URLClassLoader.class;
Method method = sysClass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", parameters);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(sysLoader, new Object[] { url });
Constructor<?> cs = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().loadClass("com.ehzlab.webreaper.module.Main")
.getConstructor();
Module instance = (Module) cs.newInstance();
System.out.println(instance.nameProperty.get());
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
I expect this ouput:
A
B
C
but I get this instead:
A
A
A
It seems like that loads the same jar at each file list iteration. But debugging I noted that the URL changes every time.
I also tried inverting the order, for example, placing B.jar before the other jar, and the output is:
B
B
B
Why?
Simply because you are using same classloader each time, which doesn't reload underlying classes:
ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()...
In order to get access to specific classes, you have to use appropriate classloader used for loading particular jar file (may be it is sysLoader, not sure, as I didn't check):
Constructor<?> cs = sysLoader.loadClass("com.ehzlab.webreaper.module.Main")
.getConstructor();
Look at this question as well: How should I load Jars dynamically at runtime?

Parent-Child Classloader Class Resolution

The tasks and initial investigation
I try to set up two Oracle Coherence near cache instances at one java swing application. The idea a solution could be found here. My case is a bit more complicated and this is where the game starts.
Short description
In my case there is an account service. It can have two endpoints: SIT and UAT. In order to create two such services, I need to load two 'instances' of the Coherence in order to override the endpoints with system variables (tangosol.coherence.cacheconfig).
I have:
the main code of the app is located in the mainapp.jar;
the AccountService interface that is located in the account-interfaces.jar;
the AccountServiceImpl class that is located in the account-impl.jar and implements the AccountService interface;
my main application has the following structure
bin: startup.bat, startup.sh
conf: app.properties
lib: mainapp.jar, account-interfaces.jar, account-impl.jar, coherence.jar
Approach tried
I created a dedicated child-first classLoader - InverseClassLoader and made the AppLaunchClassLoader (the default Thread.currentThread().GetContextClassLoader() classLoader) it's parent. With the InverseClassLoader I load the AccountServiceImpl class:
Class<AccountServiceImpl> acImplClass = contextClassLoader.selfLoad(AccountServiceImpl.class).loadClass(AccountServiceImpl.class);
Constructor<AccountServiceImpl> acConstructor =
acImplClass .getConstructor(String.class);
AccountService acService = acConstructor .newInstance(serviceURL);
Issues and questions
I get the 'AccountServiceImpl cannot be cast to AccountService' exceptions, which means that those two classes loaded by different classloaders. But those classloaders are in the parent-child relationship. So am I right that even if a class is loaded by a parent (interface - 'abstract' type) it can't be used with a class (concrete impl) loaded by a child classloader? Why then we need this parent-child relation?
I specified the AccountService interface in a code and it got loaded by a default classloader. I tried wrap the code above is a thread and set the InverseClassLoader it's context classloader. Nothing changed. So am I right that I can't use such interface-implementation coding (as usual coding) and need to use reflection all the time to invoke concrete methods all the time? (Hope there is a solution) ;
Say, I listed both the AccountService and AccountServiceImpl classes for being loaded by the InverseClassLoader. What if I need other classes, that are accessible by those two, to be also loaded by the InverseClassLoader? It there a way to say that all 'related' classes must be loaded by the same classloader?
Update
Here is the InverseClassLoader:
public class InvertedClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private final Set<String> classesToNotDelegate = new HashSet<>();
public InvertedClassLoader(URL... urls) {
super(urls, Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
}
public InvertedClassLoader selfLoad(Class<?> classToNotDelegate) {
classesToNotDelegate.add(classToNotDelegate.getName());
return this;
}
#Override
public Class<?> loadClass(String className, boolean resolve) throws ClassNotFoundException {
if (shouldNotDelegate(className)) {
System.out.println("CHILD LOADER: " + className);
Class<?> clazz = findClass(className);
if (resolve) {
resolveClass(clazz);
}
return clazz;
}
else {
System.out.println("PARENT LOADER: " + className);
return super.loadClass(className, resolve);
}
}
public <T> Class<T> loadClass(Class<? extends T> classToLoad) throws ClassNotFoundException {
final Class<?> clazz = loadClass(classToLoad.getName());
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
final Class<T> castedClass = (Class<T>) clazz;
return castedClass;
}
private boolean shouldNotDelegate(String className) {
if (classesToNotDelegate.contains(className) || className.contains("tangosol") ) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
Issue 1, part one I cannot reproduce (see below). As for part 2:
the hierarchy of class-loaders is to prevent the "X cannot be cast to X" exceptions.
But if you break the parent-first rule, you can get into trouble.
About issue 2: setting a thread's context classloader does not do anything in itself, see also this article (javaworld.com)
for some more background. Also, in relation to issue 1, part 2, a quote from the article
that describes what can happen if there is no parent-child relation between the current classloader
and the thread's context classloader:
Remember that the classloader that loads and defines a class is part of the internal JVM's ID for that class.
If the current classloader loads a class X that subsequently executes, say, a JNDI lookup for some data of type Y,
the context loader could load and define Y.
This Y definition will differ from the one by the same name but seen by the current loader.
Enter obscure class cast and loader constraint violation exceptions.
Below is a simple demo-program to show that a cast to an interface from another classloader can work
(note I'm using a simple Java project with classes in a bin-folder and the InvertedClassLoader from your question in the same (test) package):
import java.io.File;
public class ChildFirstClassLoading {
public static void main(String[] args) {
InvertedClassLoader cl = null;
try {
File classesDir = new File(new File("./bin").getCanonicalPath());
System.out.println("Classes dir: " + classesDir);
cl = new InvertedClassLoader(classesDir.toURI().toURL());
cl.selfLoad(CTest.class);
System.out.println("InvertedClassLoader configured.");
new CTest("Test 1").test();
ITest t2 = cl.loadClass(CTest.class)
.getConstructor(String.class)
.newInstance("Test 2");
t2.test();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
if (cl != null) {
try { cl.close(); } catch (Exception ignored) {}
}
}
}
public interface ITest {
void test();
}
public static class CTest implements ITest {
static {
System.out.println("CTest initialized.");
}
private String s;
public CTest(String s) {
this.s = s;
}
public void test() {
System.out.println(s);
}
}
}
If you change ITest t2 = to CTest t2 = you will get the "CTest cannot be cast to CTest" exception,
but using the interface prevents that exception.
Since this little demo works fine, I'm guessing there is more going on in your application which somehow breaks the class-loading.
I suggest you work from a situation where the class-loading works and keep adding code until it breaks the class-loading.
The InvertedClassLoader looks a lot like the "child first classloader", see this question
for some good answers discussing this manner of class-loading.
The child first classloader can be used to load "related classes" (from your third issue) separately.
You could also update the InvertedClassLoader to always "self-load" classes in certain packages.
And remember that "once a class is loaded by a classloader it uses that classloader to load every other class it needs"
(quote from this blog article).

ClasscastException in servlet

I try to implement a plugin system in a servlet. I've written a class to load plugin that use URLClassLoader to load the jar files and Class.forname to load the class.
Here is my code:
This part create the url class Loader:
public PluginLoader(ServletContext context, String[] pluginName, String[] classToLoad) throws PluginLoaderException{
this.context = context;
urls= new URL[pluginName.length];
nameToURL(pluginName);
//create class loader
loader = new URLClassLoader(urls);
//loading the plug-in
loadPlugin(classToLoad);
}
This one initialize the url:
private void nameToURL(String[] pluginName) throws PluginLoaderException{
try{
for(int i=0;i&ltpluginName.length;i++){
urls[i] = context.getResource(pluginName[i]);
}
}
Finally this one create the object:
private void loadPlugin(String[] classToLoad) throws PluginLoaderException{
try{
iTest = (ITest) Class.forName(classToLoad[0],true,loader).newInstance();
}
catch(Exception e){
throw new PluginLoaderException(e.toString());
}
}
I have managed to create the object because I can manipulate it and retrieve the interface it implements but I can't cast it in ITest to manipulate it in the application. I have a ClassCastException tplugin.toto.Toto cannot be cast to fr.test.inter.ITest .
It's strange because Toto implements ITest.
Does anyone has an idea ?
Thanks
You've created a classoader issue -- when you test with instanceof ITest, you are using the copy of ITest loaded by the default classloader, but you are testing an instance loaded by the URLClassloader. That classloader has loaded its own copy of ITest, which, as far as the JVM is concerned, is a completely different type.

Java structure/pattern(s) to return specific field from subclasses

For a project we have a requirement to create an interfacedefinition that will return all available filetype extensions that our component can export...
The problem is that we want avoid configuration/properties files. We don't want to edit our configuration/propertie file when another filetype is added (in the future). The structure of this part of our component is as follows:
public abstract class FileType {
protected String filetype;
public FileType(String filetype){
this.filetype = filetype;
}
public abstract void export(String path, Object information);
}
public class PdfExport extends FileType {
public PdfExport() {
super("pdf");
}
public void export(String path, Object information){
//pdf specific logic
}
}
But how do we solve this when another component calls the interfacedefinition getExportTypes()? (How do we get a list of all available filetypes?) Taking into account the requirement to add in the future new classes that extend abstract class filetype (add new filetypes)?
Does anyone has suggestions, maybe another structure of above example? Or any (design) that discuss above issue?
Thanks in advance!
You could do something like this:
public interface FileType {
public String getFileType();
public void export(String path, Object info);
}
public enum DefaultFileType implements FileType {
PDF(".pdf"){
public void export(String path, Object info) {
// do pdf stuff
}
}, TXT(".txt"){
public void export(String path, Object info) {
//do txt stuff
}
};
private final String fileType;
private DefaultFileType(String fileType) {
this.fileType = fileType;
}
public String getFileType() {
return fileType;
}
public abstract void export(String path, Object info);
}
Then you can have a Set<FileType> in your class of all the supported FileTypes. This way anyone who wants to add a supported FileType but cannot edit your enum can still do so.
This is the exact purpose of the strategy pattern. The strategies here are the FileTypes that encapsulate an algorithm that exports a file.
In the following example:
public class Application{
List<FileType> exporters = new ArrayList<FileType>();
public void addExporter(FileType fileExporter){
exporters.add(fileExporter);
}
public void exportData(Object information){
for(FileType exporter : exporters){
exporter.export("d:\Export", information);
}
}
}
The Application class holds a list of exporters that can be filled out on the go. The Application class does not have to know what type of file exporter is registered nor how the file can be exported. When the data is exported, the Applicaiton class loops through registered exporters and delegates the export task to each one of them.
EDIT Below is an example of the Application class usage.
// Define a pdf exporter
PdfExport pdfExport = new pdfExport();
Application app = new Application();
// Register the new exporter
app.addExporter(pdfExport);
// Export some data...
app.export(information);
EDIT How to avoid configuration files and changing the code everytime you have a new FileType?
You can load the exporters at runtime using reflexion (see this link for details)
You can use reflection to scan classes which implement your interface.
Have a look at similar question: At runtime, find all classes in a Java application that extend a base class

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