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How do I dynamically create a common proxy class of two unrelated classes?

I have two unrelated java classes (only *.class, no *.java) like this:
public class Trick {
public String getName() { return "Jack"; }
public String trick() { ... }
}
and
public class Treat {
public String getName() { return "John"; }
public String treat() { ... }
}
and I would like to generate a sort of Proxy class at runtime that represents the union of both classes and forwards them to the respective instance, and maybe throw if that's not possible. I assume that can be done with cglib but I don't know where to start.
This is what I would like to do (pseudocode):
// prepare: generate a common interface
TrickOrTreat trickOrTreat = magic.createUnionInterface(Trick.class, Treat.class);
// use with concrete interface A:
Trick trick = new Trick();
TrickOrTreat proxyA = magic.createProxy(trickOrTreat.class, trick);
System.out.println("trick name: " + proxyA.getName());
// use with concrete interface B:
Treat treat = new Treat();
TrickOrTreat proxyB = magic.createProxy(trickOrTreat.class, treat);
System.out.println("treat name: " + proxyB.getName());
Or something to that effect. I would like to do it completely dynamically, probably cglib-based? If thats not possible I would do it with a code generation step in between?

If you are willing to trade in cglib, you can do this with Byte Buddy. I typically refuse to call it magic but here you go:
class Magic {
Class<?> createUnionInterface(Class<?> a, Class<?> b) {
DynamicType.Builder<?> builder = new ByteBuddy().makeInterface();
Set<MethodDescription.SignatureToken> tokens = new HashSet<>();
for (MethodDescription m : new TypeDescription.ForLoadedType(a)
.getDeclaredMethods()
.filter(ElementMatchers.isVirtual())) {
tokens.add(m.asSignatureToken());
builder = builder.defineMethod(m.getName(),
m.getReturnType(),
m.getModifiers()).withoutCode();
}
for (MethodDescription m : new TypeDescription.ForLoadedType(b)
.getDeclaredMethods()
.filter(ElementMatchers.isVirtual())) {
if (!tokens.contains(m.asSignatureToken())) {
builder = builder.defineMethod(m.getName(),
m.getReturnType(),
m.getModifiers()).withoutCode();
}
}
return builder.make()
.load(Magic.class.getClassLoader())
.getLoaded();
}
Object createProxy(Class<?> m, final Object delegate) throws Exception {
return new ByteBuddy()
.subclass(m)
.method(new ElementMatcher<MethodDescription>() {
#Override
public boolean matches(MethodDescription target) {
for (Method method : delegate.getClass()
.getDeclaredMethods()) {
if (new MethodDescription.ForLoadedMethod(method)
.asSignatureToken()
.equals(target.asSignatureToken())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
}).intercept(MethodDelegation.to(delegate))
.make()
.load(Magic.class.getClassLoader())
.getLoaded()
.newInstance();
}
}
Note that you cannot reference a runtime-generated type at compile-time. This is however a given constraint with runtime code generation.
Magic magic = new Magic();
Class<?> trickOrTreat = magic.createUnionInterface(Trick.class, Treat.class);
Trick trick = new Trick();
Object proxyA = magic.createProxy(trickOrTreat, trick);
System.out.println("trick name: " + trickOrTreat.getDeclaredMethod("getName").invoke(proxyA));
Treat treat = new Treat();
Object proxyB = magic.createProxy(trickOrTreat, treat);
System.out.println("trick name: " + trickOrTreat.getDeclaredMethod("getName").invoke(proxyB));
You can overcome this by generating your TrickOrTreat class prior to runtime such that you can reference the type at runtime.
As for the suggested union-type approach, this would require you to have at least one class to be an interface type as Java does not support multiple inheritance.

If you need functionality of both classes/interfaces you can use
public <TT extends Trick & Treat> void process(TT thing){
//...
}
edit:
Implement new Interface MyProxyHandler
public interface MyProxyHandler {}
Extend it with interfaces of classes say TreatInterface and TrickInterface
Create class ProxyManager that implements java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler
public abstract class ProxyManager<T extends MyProxyHandler> implements InvocationHandler {
protected static String LOCK_OBJECT = new String("LOCK");
protected T proxyHandler;
protected List<T> handlers = new ArrayList<>();
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public ProxyManager(Class<T> _clazz) {
proxyHandler = (T) Proxy.newProxyInstance(_clazz.getClassLoader(), new Class[]{_clazz}, this);
}
public T getProxy() {
return proxyHandler;
}
public List<T> getHandlers() {
return handlers;
}
public void setHandlers(List<T> handlers) {
this.handlers = handlers;
}
public boolean registerHandler(T handler) {
synchronized (LOCK_OBJECT) {
boolean add = true;
for (T item : this.handlers) {
if (item.getClass().equals(handler.getClass())) {
add = false;
}
}
if (add)
this.handlers.add(handler);
return add;
}
}
#Override
public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args) throws Throwable {
String result = "";
for (MyProxyHandler handler : getHandlers()) {
try {
//I recommend that methods returns some enum like HANDLED/NOTHANDLED
result = (String) method.invoke(handler, args);
if (result.equals("Some flag"))
break;
} catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
throw e.getCause();
}
}
return result;
}
}
Extend that class with your concrete class
public class TreatTrickProxyManager<T extends TreatInterface & TreatInterface> extends ProxyManager<T> {
public TreatTrickProxyManager(Class<T> _clazz) {
super(_clazz);
}
}
In your bussines logic class get an instance of TreatTrickProxyManager
In your method
public void retrieveSomeData(){
((TreatTrickProxyManager)getTreatTrickProxyManager().getProxy()).someMethodInvocation()
}

In Java, invoke method using reflection and without giving invoker object type and multiple parameters type? [duplicate]

Consider the following snippet:
public class ReflectionTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ReflectionTest test = new ReflectionTest();
String object = new String("Hello!");
// 1. String is accepted as an Object
test.print(object);
// 2. The appropriate method is not found with String.class
try {
java.lang.reflect.Method print
= test.getClass().getMethod("print", object.getClass());
print.invoke(test, object);
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace(); // NoSuchMethodException!
}
}
public void print(Object object) {
System.out.println(object.toString());
}
}
getMethod() is obviously unaware that a String could be fed to a method that expects an Object (indeed, it's documentation says that it looks for method with the specified name and exactly the same formal parameter types).
Is there a straightforward way to find methods reflectively, like getMethod() does, but taking polymorphism into account, so that the above reflection example could find the print(Object) method when queried with ("print", String.class) parameters?

The reflection tutorial
suggest the use of Class.isAssignableFrom() sample for finding print(String)
Method[] allMethods = c.getDeclaredMethods();
for (Method m : allMethods) {
String mname = m.getName();
if (!mname.startsWith("print") {
continue;
}
Type[] pType = m.getGenericParameterTypes();
if ((pType.length != 1)
|| !String.class.isAssignableFrom(pType[0].getClass())) {
continue;
}
}

The easy way to do this is via java.beans.Statement or java.beans.Expression. Does all these hard yards for you.
getMethod() is obviously unaware that
a String could be fed to a method
that expects an Object
'Unaware' is a strange way to put it. getMethod() adheres to its specification. You have to supply the formal parameters, not the types of the actual arguments.

FYI, it is how I invoke method using reflection with multiple parameters without giving their types.
public class MyMethodUtils {
/**
* Need to pass parameter classes
*/
public static Object invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters, Class[] parameterClasses) throws Exception {
Method method = invoker.getClass().getMethod(methodName, parameterClasses);
Object returnValue = method.invoke(invoker, parameters);
return returnValue;
}
/**
* No need to pass parameter classes
*/
public static Object invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters) throws Exception {
Method[] allMethods = invoker.getClass().getDeclaredMethods();
Object returnValue = null;
boolean isFound = false;
for (Method m : allMethods) {
String mname = m.getName();
if (!mname.equals(methodName)) {
continue;
}
Class[] methodParaClasses = m.getParameterTypes();
for (int i = 0; i < methodParaClasses.length; i++) {
Class<?> parameterClass = parameters[i].getClass();
Class<?> methodParaClass = methodParaClasses[i];
boolean isAssignable = methodParaClass.isAssignableFrom(parameterClass);
if (!isAssignable) {
continue;
}
}
returnValue = m.invoke(invoker, parameters);
isFound = true;
}
if (!isFound) {
throw new RuntimeException("Cannot find such method");
}
return returnValue;
}
}
Sample Usage:
MyMethodUtils.invoke(student, "setNameAndMarks", new Object[] { "John", marks }, new Class[] { String.class, Collection.class });
MyMethodUtils.invoke(student, "setNameAndMarks", new Object[] { "John", marks });
However, for the method invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters), it is possible to invoke wrong method if the signature is ambiguous. For example, if there is two methods for the invoker:
public void setNameAndMarks(String name, Collection<Integer> marks);
public void setNameAndMarks(String name, ArrayList<Integer> marks);
Passing the following parameter may invoke wrong method
setNameAndMarks("John", new ArrayList<Integer>());

Getting method regardless of parameters

I am trying to get method regardless of what parameters that method takes (as of now there is no method overloading and there wouldn't be in future). The only possible solution that i could come up with was
private Method getMethod(Class<?> clas, String methodName) {
try {
Method[] methods = clas.getMethods();
for (Method method : methods) {
if (method.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(methodName)) {
return method;
}
}
} catch (SecurityException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
What i want to ask that is there a way to fetch a method regardless of its parameters ? I was looking at clas.getMethod ("methodName", parameters) and if i provide null in there it will try to fetch a method which has no parameters. Which wouldn't be no case.
Any ideas ?
EDIT
Thanks guys for input. In my case, i know that there would be only one method regardless of its case. The reason i am using ignoreCase is because the input will be coming from a developer (in other team) and he will be providing the name as a hard-coded string. So to keep things from spilling out of our hands, I am using a safe approach.

No. The way you've done it is the way to go. A method is identified by its signature and the signature includes the name and the parameter types.

Here is a solution that retrieves all methods with the specified class and method name regardless of the method's parameters:
public class Test
{
private class Foo
{
public void bar()
{
}
public void bar(String s)
{
}
public void goo()
{
}
}
private static Method[] getMethods(Class<?> clazz, String methodName)
{
List<Method> methods = new ArrayList<Method>();
Method[] declaredMethods = clazz.getDeclaredMethods();
for (Method declaredMethod: declaredMethods)
{
if (declaredMethod.getName().equals(methodName))
{
methods.add(declaredMethod);
}
}
return methods.toArray(new Method[methods.size()]);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Method[] methods = getMethods(Foo.class, "bar");
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(methods));
}
}
This generates the following output:
[public void com.example.Test$Foo.bar(java.lang.String), public void com.example.Test$Foo.bar()]

You've done just fine. This is basically the same as the solution to a similar problem I dealt with four years ago, creating a means to create callback methods in Java. The constructors for my Callback class were:
public Callback(Class<?> clazz, String methodName, Object parentObj) {
// Find a method with the matching name
Method[] allMethods;
try { allMethods = clazz.getMethods(); }
catch(SecurityException se) { allMethods = new Method[0]; }
int count = 0;
Method single = null;
for(Method m : allMethods) {
if(m.getName().equals(methodName)) {
single = m;
count++;
}
// Can't have more than one instance
if(count > 1)
throw new IllegalArgumentException(clazz.getName()
+ " has more than one method named " + methodName);
}
if(count == 0) // No instances found
throw new IllegalArgumentException(clazz.getName()
+ " has no method named " + methodName);
this.parentObj = parentObj;
this.method = single;
this.parameters = single.getParameterTypes();
}
public Callback(
Class<?> clazz,
String methodName,
Object parentObj,
Class<?>...parameters)
{
try { this.method = clazz.getMethod(methodName, parameters); }
catch(NoSuchMethodException nsme) { nsme.printStackTrace(); }
catch(SecurityException se) { se.printStackTrace(); }
this.parentObj = parentObj;
this.parameters = parameters;
}
My Callback class isn't really useful any more in the era of Java 8, but at the time the only real means for a "callback" in java was anonymous interface implementations, which wasn't sufficient for my use-case.
As you can see in the first constructor, it throws an exception if it finds multiple methods with the same name.

Using java streams there is a really short method of finding a method, the first match, by its name only:
Stream.of(type.getMethods())
.filter((m) -> m.getName().equals(searchedName))
.findFirst()
.get();
I think this is a short and readable possibility in this case.

Dynamically calling a class method in java?

Is it possible to dynamically call a method on a class from java?
E.g, lets say I have the reference to a class, e.g either the string: 'com.foo.Bar', or com.foo.Bar.class, or anything else which is needed..). And I have an array / list of strings, e.g [First, Last, Email].
I want to simply loop through this array, and call the method 'validate' + element on the class that I have a reference to. E.g:
MyInterface item = //instantiate the com.foo.Bar class here somehow, I'm not sure how.
item.validateFirst();
item.validateLast();
item.validateEmail();
I want the above lines of code to happen dynamically, so I can change the reference to a different class, and the names in my string list can change, but it will still call the validate + name method on whichever class it has the reference to.
Is that possible?

The simplest approach would be to use reflection
Given...
package com.foo;
public class Bar {
public void validateFirst() {
System.out.println("validateFirst");
}
public void validateLast() {
System.out.println("validateLast");
}
public void validateEmail() {
System.out.println("validateEmail");
}
}
You could use something like...
String methodNames[] = new String[]{"First", "Last", "Email"};
String className = "com.foo.Bar";
try {
Class classRef = Class.forName(className);
Object instance = classRef.newInstance();
for (String methodName : methodNames) {
try {
Method method = classRef.getDeclaredMethod("validate" + methodName);
method.invoke(instance);
} catch (NoSuchMethodException | SecurityException | IllegalArgumentException | InvocationTargetException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
To look up the methods and execute them.
You will need to decide the best way to handle errors and what they mean to you, but it wouldn't be a difficult them to expand the idea to a reusable method...
Updated with idea of concept discussed in comments
Given....
public interface Validator {
public boolean isValid(Properties formProperties);
}
We can create one or more...
public class UserRegistrationValidator implements Validator {
public boolean isValid(Properties formProperties) {
boolean isValid = false;
// Required fields...
if (formProperties.containsKey("firstName") && formProperties.containsKey("lastName") && formProperties.containsKey("email")) {
// Further processing, valid each required field...
}
if (isValid) {
// Process optional parameters
}
return isValid;
}
}
Then from our input controller, we can look and valid the required forms
public class FormController ... {
private Map<String, Validator> validators;
public void validForm(String formName, Properties formProperties) {
boolean isValid = false;
Validator validator = validators.get(formName);
if (validator != null) {
isValid = validate.isValid(formProperties);
}
return isValid;
}
}
Of course you need to provide some way to register the Validators and there may be differences based on the backbone framework you are using and the parameters you can use (you don't have to use Properties, but it is basically just a Map<String, String>...)

You can write something like this... it takes name of a class as string as an argument, the method name and its arguments
private static String invoke(String aClass, String aMethod, Class<?>[] params,
Object[] args) throws Exception {
String resp = "";
Class<?> c = Class.forName(aClass);
Method m = c.getDeclaredMethod(aMethod, params);
Object i = c.newInstance();
resp = m.invoke(i, args).toString();
return resp;
}
You can also refer to the oracle tutorial on reflection ... which demonstrates how to call methods
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/reflect/member/methodInvocation.html

It's possible using reflection.
First, you create a new class from the FQN (fully qualified name, which is the class name including the package).
Then you iterate through your elements and invoke the "validate" methods on your item.
Class<?> clazz = Class.forName("com.foo.Bar");
Object item = clazz.newInstance();
for (String element : elements) {
Method method = clazz.getDeclaredMethod("validate" + element);
method.invoke(item);
}

You can use reflection, but my favorite method is to use beanutils, eg:
Bar b1 = //...
BeanUtils.getProperty(b1, "first");
BeanUtils.getProperty(b1, "last");
Note that your class has to conform to javabean convention. You can read more about beanutils on this blog post (disclaimer I'm the blog author)

If you know the name of the class beforehand, use Class.forName(yourClassname)
That way, you can invoke the class, and then, you can invoke its methods.

Yes, using reflection.
Using Class.getDeclaredMethod on your object
Object validator = <your object instance>;
final String[] values = {
"Item1","Item2","Item3"
}
for(final String s : values) {
Method m = validator.getDeclaredMethod("validate" + s,String.class);
try {
Object result = m.invoke(validator, s);
}
catch(ex) {}
}

Using java.lang.reflect.getMethod with polymorphic methods

Consider the following snippet:
public class ReflectionTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ReflectionTest test = new ReflectionTest();
String object = new String("Hello!");
// 1. String is accepted as an Object
test.print(object);
// 2. The appropriate method is not found with String.class
try {
java.lang.reflect.Method print
= test.getClass().getMethod("print", object.getClass());
print.invoke(test, object);
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace(); // NoSuchMethodException!
}
}
public void print(Object object) {
System.out.println(object.toString());
}
}
getMethod() is obviously unaware that a String could be fed to a method that expects an Object (indeed, it's documentation says that it looks for method with the specified name and exactly the same formal parameter types).
Is there a straightforward way to find methods reflectively, like getMethod() does, but taking polymorphism into account, so that the above reflection example could find the print(Object) method when queried with ("print", String.class) parameters?

The reflection tutorial
suggest the use of Class.isAssignableFrom() sample for finding print(String)
Method[] allMethods = c.getDeclaredMethods();
for (Method m : allMethods) {
String mname = m.getName();
if (!mname.startsWith("print") {
continue;
}
Type[] pType = m.getGenericParameterTypes();
if ((pType.length != 1)
|| !String.class.isAssignableFrom(pType[0].getClass())) {
continue;
}
}

The easy way to do this is via java.beans.Statement or java.beans.Expression. Does all these hard yards for you.
getMethod() is obviously unaware that
a String could be fed to a method
that expects an Object
'Unaware' is a strange way to put it. getMethod() adheres to its specification. You have to supply the formal parameters, not the types of the actual arguments.

FYI, it is how I invoke method using reflection with multiple parameters without giving their types.
public class MyMethodUtils {
/**
* Need to pass parameter classes
*/
public static Object invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters, Class[] parameterClasses) throws Exception {
Method method = invoker.getClass().getMethod(methodName, parameterClasses);
Object returnValue = method.invoke(invoker, parameters);
return returnValue;
}
/**
* No need to pass parameter classes
*/
public static Object invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters) throws Exception {
Method[] allMethods = invoker.getClass().getDeclaredMethods();
Object returnValue = null;
boolean isFound = false;
for (Method m : allMethods) {
String mname = m.getName();
if (!mname.equals(methodName)) {
continue;
}
Class[] methodParaClasses = m.getParameterTypes();
for (int i = 0; i < methodParaClasses.length; i++) {
Class<?> parameterClass = parameters[i].getClass();
Class<?> methodParaClass = methodParaClasses[i];
boolean isAssignable = methodParaClass.isAssignableFrom(parameterClass);
if (!isAssignable) {
continue;
}
}
returnValue = m.invoke(invoker, parameters);
isFound = true;
}
if (!isFound) {
throw new RuntimeException("Cannot find such method");
}
return returnValue;
}
}
Sample Usage:
MyMethodUtils.invoke(student, "setNameAndMarks", new Object[] { "John", marks }, new Class[] { String.class, Collection.class });
MyMethodUtils.invoke(student, "setNameAndMarks", new Object[] { "John", marks });
However, for the method invoke(Object invoker, String methodName, Object[] parameters), it is possible to invoke wrong method if the signature is ambiguous. For example, if there is two methods for the invoker:
public void setNameAndMarks(String name, Collection<Integer> marks);
public void setNameAndMarks(String name, ArrayList<Integer> marks);
Passing the following parameter may invoke wrong method
setNameAndMarks("John", new ArrayList<Integer>());