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Java 9 - add jar dynamically at runtime

I've got a classloader problem with Java 9.
This code worked with previous Java versions:
private static void addNewURL(URL u) throws IOException {
final Class[] newParameters = new Class[]{URL.class};
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
Class newClass = URLClassLoader.class;
try {
Method method = newClass.getDeclaredMethod("addNewURL", newParameters );
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(urlClassLoader, new Object[]{u});
} catch (Throwable t) {
throw new IOException("Error, could not add URL to system classloader");
}
}
From this thread I learned that this has to be replaced by something like this:
Class.forName(classpath, true, loader);
loader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(
new URL[]{u},
MyClass.class.getClassLoader()
MyClass is the class I'm trying to implement the Class.forName() method in.
u = file:/C:/Users/SomeUser/Projects/MyTool/plugins/myNodes/myOwn-nodes-1.6.jar
String classpath = URLClassLoader.getSystemResource("plugins/myNodes/myOwn-nodes-1.6.jar").toString();
For some reason - I really can't figure out, why - I get a ClassNotFoundException when running Class.forName(classpath, true, loader);
Does someone know what I'm doing wrong?

From the documentation of the Class.forName(String name, boolean initialize, ClassLoader loader) :-
throws ClassNotFoundException - if the class cannot be located by the specified class loader
Also, note the arguments used for the API includes the name of the class using which the classloader returns the object of the class.
Given the fully qualified name for a class or interface (in the same format returned by getName) this method attempts to locate, load, and link the class or interface.
In your sample code, this can be redressed to something like :
// Constructing a URL form the path to JAR
URL u = new URL("file:/C:/Users/SomeUser/Projects/MyTool/plugins/myNodes/myOwn-nodes-1.6.jar");
// Creating an instance of URLClassloader using the above URL and parent classloader
ClassLoader loader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(new URL[]{u}, MyClass.class.getClassLoader());
// Returns the class object
Class<?> yourMainClass = Class.forName("MainClassOfJar", true, loader);
where MainClassOfJar in the above code shall be replaced by the main class of the JAR myOwn-nodes-1.6.jar.

Reload used classes at runtime Java

I'm working on a program that watches a directory and runs all tests in the directory when it sees changes in the directory.
This requires the program to dynamically load the classes, instead of getting the cached copies.
I can dynamically load the test classes. Changes to the tests get detected and used at runtime. However, this isn't the case for the classes tested by the tests.
My code for dynamically loading the classes and returning a list of test classes:
List<Class<?>> classes = new ArrayList<Class<?>>();
for (File file : classFiles) {
String fullName = file.getPath();
String name = fullName.substring(fullName.indexOf("bin")+4)
.replace('/', '.')
.replace('\\', '.');
name = name.substring(0, name.length() - 6);
tempClass = new DynamicClassLoader(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader()).findClass(name) } catch (ClassNotFoundException e1) {
// TODO Decide how to handle exception
e1.printStackTrace();
}
boolean cHasTestMethods = false;
for(Method method: tempClass.getMethods()){
if(method.isAnnotationPresent(Test.class)){
cHasTestMethods = true;
break;
}
}
if (!Modifier.isAbstract(cachedClass.getModifiers()) && cHasTestMethods) {
classes.add(tempClass);
}
}
return classes;
with DynamicClassLoader being as the Reloader described here How to force Java to reload class upon instantiation?
Any idea how to fix it? I thought all classes would be dynamically loaded. Note however that I don't overwrite loadclass in my DynamicClassLoader because if I do my test classes give init
EDIT:
This doesn't work, the class gets loaded but the tests in it aren't detected...
List<Request> requests = new ArrayList<Request>();
for (File file : classFiles) {
String fullName = file.getPath();
String name = fullName.substring(fullName.indexOf("bin")+4)
.replace('/', '.')
.replace('\\', '.');
name = name.substring(0, name.length() - 6);
Class<?> cachedClass = null;
Class<?> dynamicClass = null;
try {
cachedClass = Class.forName(name);
URL[] urls={ cachedClass.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation() };
ClassLoader delegateParent = cachedClass .getClassLoader().getParent();
URLClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls, delegateParent) ;
dynamicClass = cl.loadClass(name);
System.out.println(dynamicClass);
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
Edit edit: i detect the test methods like this:
for(Method method: dynamicClass.getMethods()){
if(method.isAnnotationPresent(Test.class)){
requests.add(Request.method(dynamicClass, method.getName()));
}
}

If you used the custom ClassLoader exactly like in the linked answer it is not overriding the method protected Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve). This implies that when the JVM is resolving dependencies it will still delegate to the parent class loader. And, of course, when it was not delegating to the parent ClassLoader it had the risk of missing some required classes.
The easiest solution is to set up the right parent class loader. You are currently passing Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() which is a bit strange as your main intention is that the delegation should not delegate to that loader but load the changed classes. You have to think about which class loaders exist and which to use and which not. E.g. if the class Foo is within the scope of your current code but you want to (re)load it with the new ClassLoader, Foo.class.getClassLoader().getParent() would be the right delegate parent for the new ClassLoader. Note that it might be null but this doesn’t matter as in this case it would use the bootstrap loader which is the correct parent then.
Note that when you set up the right parent ClassLoader matching your intentions you don’t need that custom ClassLoader anymore. The default implementation (see URLClassLoader) already does the right thing. And with current Java versions it is Closeable making it even more suitable for dynamic loading scenarios.
Here is a simple example of a class reloading:
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
public class ReloadMyClass
{
public static void main(String[] args)
throws ClassNotFoundException, IOException {
Class<?> myClass=ReloadMyClass.class;
System.out.printf("my class is Class#%x%n", myClass.hashCode());
System.out.println("reloading");
URL[] urls={ myClass.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation() };
ClassLoader delegateParent = myClass.getClassLoader().getParent();
try(URLClassLoader cl=new URLClassLoader(urls, delegateParent)) {
Class<?> reloaded=cl.loadClass(myClass.getName());
System.out.printf("reloaded my class: Class#%x%n", reloaded.hashCode());
System.out.println("Different classes: "+(myClass!=reloaded));
}
}
}

Load a class to Java classpath dynamically using Eclipse and OSGi

Combining the information from many posts on this site and many others, I got the following code to dynamically add (at run time) a directory containing classes to the classpath and load a class within that directory.
I'm using OSGi bundles and running from eclipse an "Eclipse Application" (a kind of Run Configuration).
This is the code I'm using:
CASE 1: (both cases are different things I've tried to do the same thing.)
File file = new File("/Users/alek/fastFIX/myJPass/");
URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
Class cls = cl.loadClass("GuiLauncher"); //the file GuiLauncher.class is in the /Users/alek/fastFIX/myJPass/ directory
Class[] argTypes = new Class[] { String[].class };
Method main = cls.getDeclaredMethod("main", argTypes); //trying to run the main class
main.invoke(null, (Object) args);
I don't get any error, and nothing happens.
I've also tryied the following, as I actually need the loaded class to interact with other (already loaded) classes.
CASE 2:
ClassLoader currentThreadClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[] { new File("/Users/alek/fastFIX/myJPass/").toURL() }, currentThreadClassLoader);
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(urlClassLoader);
then i load like this:
Class<?> c = Class.forName("GuiLauncher");
or like this:
Class<?> c = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().loadClass("GuiLauncher");
and try to invoke the main function like this:
Class[] argTypes = new Class[] { String[].class };
Method main = cls.getDeclaredMethod("main", argTypes); //trying to run the main class
main.invoke(null, (Object) args);
here also nothing happens.
Any clue of what could be happening? I've read all related posts here and many places else with no luck.

In OSGI framework it is necessary to add the OSGI class loader as a parent, something like this:
...
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{file.toURI().toURL()}, this.getClass().getClassLoader());
...

In case 1, I suspect that the GuiLauncher class is already on the classpath, so may get loaded by the default classloader. Try doing Class.forName() before setting up the dynamic classloader, to confirm that there's no class available. If you are in Eclipse, you need to be careful that the class is not included on the Eclipse classpath, which is what would normally happen. You might need to compile it once then move the .java and .class files elsewhere to hide them from Eclipse!
In case 2:
Class.forName("GuiLauncher");
will not work as you expect, because this will use the system classloader. This should fail, hence my suspicion above. You need use the other version of this method that specifies your dynamic classloader:
Class.forName("GuiLauncher", true, urlClassLoader)
The following code works for me.
import java.net.*;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
import java.io.File;
public class Main{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
try{
Class cls = Class.forName("Plugin");
}
catch(Exception e){
System.out.println("Nothing there!");
}
try{
File file = new File("plugin");
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{file.toURI().toURL()});
Class cls = Class.forName("Plugin", true, cl);
Method main = cls.getDeclaredMethod("main", new Class[] { String[].class });
main.invoke(null, (Object) args);
}
catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
The Plugin class is compiled in the plugin subfolder, so it's not on the classpath used to run Main, as shown by the first Class.forName().
public class Plugin{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println("Plugin was invoked!");
}
}
and prints out:
Nothing there!
Plugin was invoked!

File.getClass().getMethod(): how to get .class and method

I am using JUnit4 and I am trying to set up a test that can be used for multiple classes that are identical(not important why they all are), but I am passing in multiple java files to the test and from that i am trying to create objects that have both the .class and the name of a method in the method eg. list.add(new Object[]{testClass.class, testClass.class.methodName()}); It works fine if you enter the name of the .class and the name of the method exactly as is(as in the example above) but as I want to do this for a number of different classes I need to pass them in in a loop and i am using the following code list.add(new Object[]{currentFile.getClass(), currentFile.getClass().getMethod(addTwoNumbers,int, int)} where currentFile is the current file being processed and .getMethod(addTwoNumbers,int, int) addTwoNumbers is the name of the method which takes two ints eg. addTwoNumbers(int one, int two) but I am getting the following error
'.class' expected
'.class' expected
unexpected type
required: value
found: class
unexpected type
required: value
found: class
Here is my full code
CompilerForm compilerForm = new CompilerForm();
RetrieveFiles retrieveFiles = new RetrieveFiles();
#RunWith(Parameterized.class)
public class BehaviorTest {
#Parameters
public Collection<Object[]> classesAndMethods() throws NoSuchMethodException {
List<Object[]> list = new ArrayList<>();
List<File> files = new ArrayList<>();
final File folder = new File(compilerForm.getPathOfFileFromNode());
files = retrieveFiles.listFilesForFolder(folder);
for(File currentFile: files){
list.add(new Object[]{currentFile.getClass(), currentFile.getClass().getMethod(addTwoNumbers,int, int)});
}
return list;
}
private Class clazz;
private Method method;
public BehaviorTest(Class clazz, Method method) {
this.clazz = clazz;
this.method = method;
}
Does anyone see what I am doing wrong with this line list.add(new Object[]{currentFile.getClass(), currentFile.getClass().getMethod(addTwoNumbers,int, int)});
}?

I believe that you need to load the file first using a ClassLoader and then create it so you can use reflection on the class. Here's a similar post with an answer that has more info on this. How to load an arbitrary java .class file from the filesystem and reflect on it?
Here's some more info on this:
A Look At The Java Class Loader
Dynamic Class Loading and Reloading in Java
And here's a quick example using URLClassLoader
// Create a File object on the root of the directory containing the class file
File file = new File("c:\\myclasses\\");
try {
// Convert File to a URL
URL url = file.toURL(); // file:/c:/myclasses/
URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
// Create a new class loader with the directory
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
// Load in the class; MyClass.class should be located in
// the directory file:/c:/myclasses/com/mycompany
Class cls = cl.loadClass("com.mycompany.MyClass");
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
}
the example was taken from:
Loading a Class That Is Not on the Classpath

java dynamic classloader

how can I dynamically load a class in Java with two parameters which are the absolute filepath of the class file and the name of the method I wish to call?
eg path: c:\foo.class
method: print()
I am just interested in the basics as a simple cmd line tool. A code example would b appreciated.
cheers hoax

Use URLClassLoader. The name of the method is irrelevant. You must pass the root directory of your package to the class loader. Then you can use the fully qualified class name (package + class name) in Class.forName() to get the Class instance. You can use the normal reflection calls to create an instance of this class and call methods on it.
To make your life more simple, have a look at commons-beanutils. It makes invoking methods much more simple.

Check out this example:
// Create a File object on the root of the directory containing the class file
File file = new File("c:\\myclasses\\");
try {
// Convert File to a URL
URL url = file.toURL(); // file:/c:/myclasses/
URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
// Create a new class loader with the directory
ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
// Load in the class; MyClass.class should be located in
// the directory file:/c:/myclasses/com/mycompany
Class cls = cl.loadClass("com.mycompany.MyClass");
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
}
After this, you could do something like this to first create a new instace using the default constructor and invoking the method "print" without arguments:
Object object = cls.newInstance();
cls.getMethod("print").invoke(object);