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Inline Java method defined for a class is not available when calling the object [duplicate]

Is there any Java syntax to access new methods defined within anonymous inner classes from outer class? I know there can be various workarounds, but I wonder if a special syntax exist?
For example
class Outer {
ActionListener listener = new ActionListener() {
#Override
void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// do something
}
// method is public so can be accessible
public void MyGloriousMethod() {
// viva!
}
};
public void Caller() {
listener.MyGloriousMethod(); // does not work!
}
}
MY OWN SOLUTION
I just moved all methods and members up to outer class.

Once the anonymous class instance has been implicitly cast into the named type it can't be cast back because there is no name for the anonymous type. You can access the additional members of the anonymous inner class through this within the class, in the expression immediate after the expression and the type can be inferred and returned through a method call.
Object obj = new Object() {
void fn() {
System.err.println("fn");
}
#Override public String toString() {
fn();
return "";
}
};
obj.toString();
new Object() {
void fn() {
System.err.println("fn");
}
}.fn();
identity(new Object() {
void fn() {
System.err.println("fn");
}
}).fn();
...
private static <T> T identity(T value) {
return value;
}

A student in my class asked our professor if this could be done the other day. Here is what I wrote as a cool proof of concept that it CAN be done, although not worth it, it is actually possible and here is how:
public static void main(String[] args){
//anonymous inner class with method defined inside which
//does not override anything
Object o = new Object()
{
public int test = 5;
public void sayHello()
{
System.out.println("Hello World");
}
};
//o.sayHello();//Does not work
try
{
Method m = o.getClass().getMethod("sayHello");
Field f = o.getClass().getField("test");
System.out.println(f.getInt(o));
m.invoke(o);
} catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
By making use of Java's Method class we can invoke a method by passing in the string value and parameters of the method. Same thing can be done with fields.
Just thought it would be cool to share this!

Your caller knows listener as an ActionListener and therefore it doesn't know anything about that new method. I think the only way to do this (other than doing reflection gymnastics, which really would defeat the purpose of using an anonymous class, i.e. shortcut/simplicity) is to simply subclass ActionListener and not use an anonymous class.

Funny enough, this is now allowed with var construct (Java 10 or newer). Example:
var calculator = new Object() {
BigDecimal intermediateSum = BigDecimal.ZERO;
void calculate(Item item) {
intermediateSum = Numbers.add(intermediateSum, item.value);
item.sum= intermediateSum;
}
};
items.forEach(calculator::calculate);
Here with method reference, but works with dot method call as well, of course. It works with fields as well. Enjoy new Java. :-)
I found more tricks with var and anonymous classes here: https://blog.codefx.org/java/tricks-var-anonymous-classes/

No, it's imposible. You would need to cast the ActionListener to its real subclass name, but since it's anonymous, it doesn't have a name.

The right way to do it is using reflection:
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
public class MethodByReflectionTest {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException, SecurityException {
Object obj = new Object(){
public void print(){
System.out.println("Print executed.");
}
};
obj.getClass().getMethod("print", null).invoke(obj, null);
}
}
You can check here: How do I invoke a Java method when given the method name as a string?

Yes you can access the method see the example below if any doubt please comment
package com;
interface A
{
public void display();
}
public class Outer {
public static void main(String []args)
{
A a=new A() {
#Override
public void display() {
System.out.println("Hello");
}
};
a.display();
}
}

How to call private constructor of super class from child class constructor?

In Java, I'm trying to override a class coming from a library. One of the constructors of the class is private and thus I'm not able to call it from my class. Is there a way to work around this (reflection?)?
public class LibraryClass extends ProtectedLibraryClass {
public LibraryClass() {
super();
}
private LibraryClass(Boolean useFeature) {
super(useFeature);
}
// Other methods
}
public class MyClass extends LibraryClass {
public MyClass() {
super();
}
private MyClass(Boolean useFeature) {
super(useFeature); // <-- This line throws exception as super class constructor is private
}
// Override other methods
}
I can't just call super() and then set useFeature flag as useFeature flag is final in protectedLibraryClass and is set only through it's constructor.

they made it for a reason but you can use reflection in java to create object from this class even if it private
here is example :
public static void main(String[] args) {
LibraryClass copy = null;
try {
Constructor[] constructors = LibraryClass.class.getDeclaredConstructors();
for (Constructor constructor : constructors) {
constructor.setAccessible(true);
copy = (LibraryClass) constructor.newInstance();
break;
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

I don't think this is possible, looking at this post and these docs. What you could possibly do is place the two (or however many) class files into their own package and then use the protected access modifier so that the constructor is only usable within the package. If you only place classes that inherit from the LibraryClass class it would have the same effect as making the constructor private as indicated above.

Trouble with a constructor [duplicate]

I wrote this simple class in java just for testing some of its features.
public class class1 {
public static Integer value=0;
public class1() {
da();
}
public int da() {
class1.value=class1.value+1;
return 5;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
class1 h = new class1();
class1 h2 = new class1();
System.out.println(class1.value);
}
}
The output is:
2
But in this code:
public class class1 {
public static Integer value=0;
public void class1() {
da();
}
public int da() {
class1.value=class1.value+1;
return 5;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
class1 h = new class1();
class1 h2 = new class1();
System.out.println(class1.value);
}
}
The output of this code is:
0
So why doesn't, when I use void in the constructor method declaration, the static field of the class doesn't change any more?

In Java, the constructor is not a method. It only has the name of the class and a specific visibility. If it declares that returns something, then it is not a constructor, not even if it declares that returns a void. Note the difference here:
public class SomeClass {
public SomeClass() {
//constructor
}
public void SomeClass() {
//a method, NOT a constructor
}
}
Also, if a class doesn't define a constructor, then the compiler will automatically add a default constructor for you.

public void class1() is not a constructor, it is a void method whose name happens to match the class name. It is never called. Instead java creates a default constructor (since you have not created one), which does nothing.

Using void in the constructor by definition leads it to not longer be the constructor.
The constructor specifically has no return type. While void doesn't return a value in the strictest sense of the word, it is still considered a return type.
In the second example (where you use the void), you would have to do h.class1() for the method to get called because it is no longer the constructor. Or you could just remove the void.

This is arguably a design flaw in Java.
class MyClass {
// this is a constructor
MyClass() {...}
// this is an instance method
void MyClass() {...}
}
Perfectly legal. Probably shouldn't be, but is.
In your example, class1() is never getting called, because it's not a constructor. Instead, the default constructor is getting called.
Suggestion: familiarize yourself with Java naming conventions. Class names should start with uppercase.

The reason the constructor doesn't return a value is because it's not called directly by your code, it's called by the memory allocation and object initialization code in the run time.
Here is an article explaining this in greater detail:
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-return-type-of-constructor-not-void-while-the-return-type-of-a-function-can-be-void

call a method when an object is initializing

I'm extending from an abstract class named ChildClass, it has 4 constructors which should be implemented.
There is a set of general configuration common to all constructors.
I could abstract these tasks and call it in all constructors.
Is there anyway to call a specif method when an object is going to be initialized rather than calling it in all of the constructor signatures?

Since Java compiler must ensure a call to a constructor of the base class, you can place the common code in a constructor of your abstract base class:
abstract class BaseClass {
protected BaseClass(/*put arguments here*/) {
// Code that is common to all child classes
}
}
class ChildClassOne extends BaseClass {
public ChildClassOne(/*put arguments here*/) {
super(arg1, arg2, ...);
// More code here
}
}

As already stated in the comment, one way to call common initialization code would be the use of this(...), i.e. you'd call one constructor from another. The problem, however, is that this call would have to be the first statement of a constructor and thus might not provide what you want.
Alternatively you could call some initialization method (the most common name would be init()) in all constructors and in a place that is appropriate (e.g. at the end of the constructor). There is one problem though: if a subclass would override that method it could create undefined situations where the super constructor calls the method and the method uses non-yet-initialized fields of the subclass. To mitigate that the method should not be overridable, i.e. declare it final or make it private (I'd prefer to have it final though because that's more explicit).
Depending on your needs there's a 3rd option: use the initializer block:
class Super {
{
//this is the initializer block that is called before the corresponding constructors
//are called so it might or might not fit your needs
}
}
Here's an example combining all 3 options:
static class Super {
{
//called before any of the Super constructors
System.out.println( "Super initializer" );
}
private final void init() {
System.out.println( "Super init method" );
}
public Super() {
System.out.println( "Super common constructor" );
}
public Super(String name) {
this(); //needs to be the first statement if used
System.out.println( "Super name constructor" );
init(); //can be called anywhere
}
}
static class Sub extends Super {
{
//called before any of the Sub constructors
System.out.println( "Sub initializer" );
}
private final void init() {
System.out.println( "Sub init method" );
}
public Sub() {
System.out.println( "Sub common constructor" );
}
public Sub(String name) {
super( name ); //needs to be the first statement if used, calls the corrsponding Super constructor
System.out.println( "Sub name constructor" );
init(); //can be called anywhere
}
}
If you now call new Sub("some name"), you'll get the following output:
Super initializer
Super common constructor
Super name constructor
Super init method
Sub initializer
Sub name constructor
Sub init method

You can declare an instance method in the class which can be called from a constructor like this:
Class A{
public A(){
initialize();
}
public void initialize(){
//code goes here
}
}
This concept extends to abstract classes as well.

You could chain your constructors.
public class Test {
public Test() {
// Common initialisations.
}
public Test(String stuff) {
// Call the one ^
this();
// Something else.
}
You can then put your common code in the () constructor.

An alternative is to use an Initializer block.
Class A {
{
// initialize your instance here...
}
// rest of the class...
}
The compiler will make sure the initializer code is called before any of the constructors.
However, I would hesitate a bit to use this use this - perhaps only if there are no other alternatives possible (like putting the code in a base class).

If you can put the common code in one constructor and call it as the first instruction from the other constructors, it is the Java idiomatic way.
If your use case is more complex, you can call a specific method from the constructors provided it is private, final or static (non overidable). An example use case would be:
class Test {
private final void init(int i, String str) {
// do common initialization
}
public Test(int i) {
String str;
// do complex operations to compute str
init(i, str); // this() would not be allowed here, because not 1st statement
}
public Test(int i, String str) {
init(i, str);
}
}

Make a common method and assign it to instance variable. Another way of doing it.
import java.util.List;
public class Test {
int i = commonMethod(1);
Test() {
System.out.println("Inside default constructor");
}
Test(int i) {
System.out.println("Inside argument Constructor ");
}
public int commonMethod(int i) {
System.out.println("Inside commonMethod");
return i;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Test test1 = new Test();
Test test2 = new Test(2);
}
}

How can I access a private constructor of a class?

I am a Java developer. In an interview I was asked a question about private constructors:
Can you access a private constructor of a class and instantiate it?
I answered 'No' but was wrong.
Can you explain why I was wrong and give an example of instantiating an object with a private constructor?

One way to bypass the restriction is to use reflections:
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
public class Example {
public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
Constructor<Foo> constructor = Foo.class.getDeclaredConstructor();
constructor.setAccessible(true);
Foo foo = constructor.newInstance();
System.out.println(foo);
}
}
class Foo {
private Foo() {
// private!
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "I'm a Foo and I'm alright!";
}
}

You can access it within the class itself (e.g. in a public static factory method)
If it's a nested class, you can access it from the enclosing class
Subject to appropriate permissions, you can access it with reflection
It's not really clear if any of these apply though - can you give more information?

This can be achieved using reflection.
Consider for a class Test, with a private constructor:
Constructor<?> constructor = Test.class.getDeclaredConstructor(Context.class, String[].class);
Assert.assertTrue(Modifier.isPrivate(constructor.getModifiers()));
constructor.setAccessible(true);
Object instance = constructor.newInstance(context, (Object)new String[0]);

The very first question that is asked regarding Private Constructors in Interviews is,
Can we have Private constructor in a Class?
And sometimes the answer given by the candidate is, No we cannot have private constructors.
So I would like to say, Yes you can have private Constructors in a class.
It is no special thing, try to think it this way,
Private: anything private can be accessed from within the class only.
Constructor: a method which has same name as that of class and it is implicitly called when object of the class is created.
or you can say, to create an object you need to call its constructor, if constructor is not called then object cannot be instantiated.
It means, if we have a private constructor in a class then its objects can be instantiated within the class only. So in simpler words you can say, if the constructor is private then you will not be able to create its objects outside the class.
What's the benefit
This concept can be implemented to achieve singleton object (it means only one object of the class can be created).
See the following code,
class MyClass{
private static MyClass obj = new MyClass();
private MyClass(){
}
public static MyClass getObject(){
return obj;
}
}
class Main{
public static void main(String args[]){
MyClass o = MyClass.getObject();
//The above statement will return you the one and only object of MyClass
//MyClass o = new MyClass();
//Above statement (if compiled) will throw an error that you cannot access the constructor.
}
}
Now the tricky part, why you were wrong, as already explained in other answers, you can bypass the restriction using Reflection.

I like the answers above, but there are two more nifty ways of creating a new instance of a class which has private constructor. It all depends on what you want to achieve and under what circumstances.
1: Using Java instrumentation and ASM
Well in this case you have to start the JVM with a transformer. To do this you have to implement a new Java agent and then make this transformer change the constructor for you.
First create the class transformer. This class has a method called transform. Override this method and inside this method you can use the ASM class reader and other classes to manipulate the visibility of your constructor. After the transformer is done, your client code will have access to the constructor.
You can read more about this here: Changing a private Java constructor with ASM
2: Rewrite the constructor code
Well, this is not really accessing the constructor, but still you can create an instance. Let's assume that you use a third-party library (let's say Guava) and you have access to the code but you don't want to change that code in the jar which is loaded by the JVM for some reason (I know, this is not very lifelike but let's suppose the code is in a shared container like Jetty and you can't change the shared code, but you have separate class loading context) then you can make a copy of the 3rd party code with the private constructor, change the private constructor to protected or public in your code and then put your class at the beginning of the classpath. From that point your client can use the modified constructor and create instances.
This latter change is called a link seam, which is a kind of seam where the enabling point is the classpath.

Using java Reflection as follows :
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
class Test
{
private Test() //private constructor
{
}
}
public class Sample{
public static void main(String args[]) throws ClassNotFoundException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, NoSuchMethodException, SecurityException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException
{
Class c=Class.forName("Test"); //specify class name in quotes
//----Accessing private constructor
Constructor con=c.getDeclaredConstructor();
con.setAccessible(true);
Object obj=con.newInstance();
}
}

Yes you could, as mentioned by #Jon Steet.
Another way of accessing a private constructor is by creating a public static method within this class and have its return type as its object.
public class ClassToAccess
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
{
ClassWithPrivateConstructor obj = ClassWithPrivateConstructor.getObj();
obj.printsomething();
}
}
}
class ClassWithPrivateConstructor
{
private ClassWithPrivateConstructor()
{
}
public void printsomething()
{
System.out.println("HelloWorld");
}
public static ClassWithPrivateConstructor getObj()
{
return new ClassWithPrivateConstructor();
}
}

You can of course access the private constructor from other methods or constructors in the same class and its inner classes. Using reflection, you can also use the private constructor elsewhere, provided that the SecurityManager is not preventing you from doing so.

Yes, we can access the private constructor or instantiate a class with private constructor. The java reflection API and the singleton design pattern has heavily utilized concept to access to private constructor.
Also, spring framework containers can access the private constructor of beans and this framework has used java reflection API.
The following code demonstrate the way of accessing the private constructor.
class Demo{
private Demo(){
System.out.println("private constructor invocation");
}
}
class Main{
public static void main(String[] args){
try{
Class class = Class.forName("Demo");
Constructor<?> con = string.getDeclaredConstructor();
con.setAccessible(true);
con.newInstance(null);
}catch(Exception e){}
}
}
output:
private constructor invocation
I hope you got it.

I hope This Example may help you :
package MyPackage;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
/**
* #author Niravdas
*/
class ClassWithPrivateConstructor {
private ClassWithPrivateConstructor() {
System.out.println("private Constructor Called");
}
}
public class InvokePrivateConstructor
{
public static void main(String[] args) {
try
{
Class ref = Class.forName("MyPackage.ClassWithPrivateConstructor");
Constructor<?> con = ref.getDeclaredConstructor();
con.setAccessible(true);
ClassWithPrivateConstructor obj = (ClassWithPrivateConstructor) con.newInstance(null);
}catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Output:
private Constructor Called

Reflection is an API in java which we can use to invoke methods at runtime irrespective of access specifier used with them.
To access a private constructor of a class:
My utility class
public final class Example{
private Example(){
throw new UnsupportedOperationException("It is a utility call");
}
public static int twice(int i)
{
int val = i*2;
return val;
}
}
My Test class which creates an object of the Utility class(Example)
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
class Test{
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
int i =2;
final Constructor<?>[] constructors = Example.class.getDeclaredConstructors();
constructors[0].setAccessible(true);
constructors[0].newInstance();
}
}
When calling the constructor it will give the error
java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: It is a utility call
But remember using reflection api cause overhead issues

Look at Singleton pattern. It uses private constructor.

Yes you can instantiate an instance with a private constructor using Reflection, see the example I pasted below taken from java2s to understand how:
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
class Deny {
private Deny() {
System.out.format("Deny constructor%n");
}
}
public class ConstructorTroubleAccess {
public static void main(String... args) {
try {
Constructor c = Deny.class.getDeclaredConstructor();
// c.setAccessible(true); // solution
c.newInstance();
// production code should handle these exceptions more gracefully
} catch (InvocationTargetException x) {
x.printStackTrace();
} catch (NoSuchMethodException x) {
x.printStackTrace();
} catch (InstantiationException x) {
x.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException x) {
x.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

The basic premise for having a private constructor is that having a private constructor restricts the access of code other than own class' code from making objects of that class.
Yes we can have private constructors in a class and yes they can be made accessible by making some static methods which in turn create the new object for the class.
Class A{
private A(){
}
private static createObj(){
return new A();
}
Class B{
public static void main(String[]args){
A a=A.createObj();
}}
So to make an object of this class, the other class has to use the static methods.
What is the point of having a static method when we are making the constructor private?
Static methods are there so that in case there is a need to make the instance of that class then there can be some predefined checks that can be applied in the static methods before creation of the instance. For example in a Singleton class, the static method checks if the instance has already been created or not. If the instance is already created then it just simply returns that instance rather than creating a new one.
public static MySingleTon getInstance(){
if(myObj == null){
myObj = new MySingleTon();
}
return myObj;
}

We can not access private constructor outside the class but using Java Reflection API we can access private constructor. Please find below code:
public class Test{
private Test()
System.out.println("Private Constructor called");
}
}
public class PrivateConsTest{
public void accessPrivateCons(Test test){
Field[] fields = test.getClass().getDeclaredFields();
for (Field field : fields) {
if (Modifier.isPrivate(field.getModifiers())) {
field.setAccessible(true);
System.out.println(field.getName()+" : "+field.get(test));
}
}
}
}
If you are using Spring IoC, Spring container also creates and injects object of the class having private constructor.

I tried like this it is working. Give me some suggestion if i am wrong.
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
class TestCon {
private TestCon() {
System.out.println("default constructor....");
}
public void testMethod() {
System.out.println("method executed.");
}
}
class TestPrivateConstructor {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
Class testConClass = TestCon.class;
System.out.println(testConClass.getSimpleName());
Constructor[] constructors = testConClass.getDeclaredConstructors();
constructors[0].setAccessible(true);
TestCon testObj = (TestCon) constructors[0].newInstance();
//we can call method also..
testObj.testMethod();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Simple answer is yes we can have private constructors in Java.
There are various scenarios where we can use private constructors. The major ones are
Internal Constructor chaining
Singleton class design pattern

Also have another option create the getInstance() where we can create instance of private constructor inside same class and return that object.
class SampleClass1{
private SampleClass1() {
System.out.println("sample class constructor");
}
public static SampleClass1 getInstance() {
SampleClass1 sc1 = new SampleClass1();
return sc1;
}
}
public class SingletonDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SampleClass1 obj1 = SampleClass1.getInstance();
}
}

We can create instance of private class by creating createInstance() in the same class and simply call the same method by using class name in main():
class SampleClass1{
private SampleClass1() {
System.out.println("sampleclass cons");
}
public static void createInstance() {
SampleClass1 sc = new SampleClass1();
}
}
public class SingletonDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//SampleClass1 sc1 = new SampleClass1();
SampleClass1.createInstance();
}
}

Well, you can also if there are any other public constructors. Just because the parameterless constructor is private doesn't mean you just can't instantiate the class.

you can access it outside of the class its very easy to access
just take an example of singaltan class we all does the same thing make the private constructor and access the instance by static method here is the code associated to your query
ClassWithPrivateConstructor.getObj().printsomething();
it will definately work because i have already tested