Load Java classes based on a classpath in a properties file - java

My application uses JDBC database drivers. I load these from a jar file, db2jcc.jar in the case of DB2 which I'm currently working with. With this jar in the classpath, everything is fine, but I have a requirement to find the jar from a property in the application's config file instead - for example,
database.driver=/opt/IBM/db2/V9.5/java/db2jcc.jar
I can load the class via a URLClassLoader ok, but the problem is that I need to treat the object thus created as an explicit DB2XADataSource. For example:
URLClassLoader dbClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{driverJar});
xaClass = dbClassLoader.loadClass("com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2XADataSource");
DB2XADataSource dataSource = (DB2XADataSource) xaClass.newInstance();
dataSource.setCurrentSchema(DATABASE_SCHEMA); // <- dataSource has to be a
dataSource.setDatabaseName(DATABASE_NAME); // DB2XADataSource to do this
(rearranged and renamed somewhat; I actually do the loadClass in the constructor of the class that contains this code, while the newInstance is in one of its methods.)
I guess I'm getting into a classloader tangle because the classloader that loaded my class is trying to find DB2XADataSource in order to do the cast, but the URL classloader is not above it in the tree. The trouble is, it being long after I should have stopped working for the day (here in the UK) I can't think how best to solve it in a vaguely neat and sane manner.
Ideas?
Thanks.

The simplest approach is to just use the java.beans API (or direct reflection if you must) to invoke the setter methods.
Alternatively: Your database code requires to link to the dynamically loaded code. Therefore, dynamically load your database code. How much is up to you. You might load almost everything except the "bootstrap".

Yep - the class can't load its own dependencies. You could do some ClassLoader magic, but I imagine it would get messy very quickly.
One way to reduce the amount of reflection would be to put any code that depends on DB2XADataSource into an implementation that is invoked via an interface available to the calling ClassLoader.
//in mydb2driver.jar
public class MyDb2Driver implements IDriver {
private DB2XADataSource dataSource = new DB2XADataSource();
public void init() {
dataSource.setCurrentSchema(DATABASE_SCHEMA);
}
//etc.
}
This is loaded with your driver:
database.driver=/opt/IBM/db2/V9.5/java/db2jcc.jar:/foo/mydb2driver.jar
Invoking code is in the regular classpath:
public interface IDriver {
public void init();
//etc.
}
...
URLClassLoader dbClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{driverJar});
xaClass = dbClassLoader.loadClass("foo.MyDb2Driver");
IDriver dataSource = (IDriver) xaClass.newInstance();
dataSource.init();

Related

Add or remove specific jars from custom ClassLoader

I want to create dynamically a classloader for executing JSR223 script in a controlled environment but failing,
I'm trying remove/add jars using current(parent) ClassLoader, I tried solution Dynamically removing jars from classpath
public class DistributionClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
public DistributionClassLoader(ClassLoader parent) {
super(parent);
}
private Map<String, ClassLoader> classLoadersByDistribution =
Collections.synchronizedMap(new WeakHashMap<>());
private final AtomicReference<String> distribution = new AtomicReference<>();
#Override
protected Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
throws ClassNotFoundException {
final ClassLoader delegate = classLoadersByDistribution.get(distribution.get());
if (delegate != null) return Class.forName(name, true, delegate);
throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
}
public void addDistribution(String key, ClassLoader distributionClassLoader){
classLoadersByDistribution.put(key,distributionClassLoader);
}
public void makeDistributionActive(String key){distribution.set(key);}
public void removeDistribution(String key){
final ClassLoader toRemove = classLoadersByDistribution.remove(key);
}
}
But it didn't include all my jars, in test this work
ClassLoader cl = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
Class cls = cl.loadClass("org.springframework.http.HttpStatus");
But using the solution doesn't find class
ClassLoader cl = new DistributionClassLoader(this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Class cls = cl.loadClass("org.springframework.http.HttpStatus");
Exception:
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.http.HttpStatus
at com.DistributionClassLoader.loadClass(DistributionClassLoader.java:24)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:357)
How can I select specific jars to add or remove from ClassLoader?
EDIT
I'm able to load jars using #czdepski answer but I still want to remove all/most classes except JDK's
Method sysMethod = URLClassLoader.class.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{URL.class});
sysMethod.setAccessible(true);
sysMethod.invoke(sysLoader, new Object[]{url});
You got the delegation wrong. You never check the parent class loader if it has this class.
If we look at the Javadoc for ClassLoader.loadClass(String,boolean) we find:
Loads the class with the specified binary name. The default implementation of this method searches for classes in the following order:
Invoke findLoadedClass(String) to check if the class has already been loaded.
Invoke the loadClass method on the parent class loader. If the parent is null the class loader built into the virtual machine is used, instead.
Invoke the findClass(String) method to find the class.
If the class was found using the above steps, and the resolve flag is true, this method will then invoke the resolveClass(Class) method on the resulting Class object.
Subclasses of ClassLoader are encouraged to override findClass(String), rather than this method.
You did override loadClass, but don't do any delegation to it's parent ClassLoader.
Instead you call classLoadersByDistribution.get(distribution.get());, which is most likely null (hard to tell, but always expect WeakHashMap.get() to return null).
If delegate is not null, then you try to load the class from there. This means the loaded class won't use your ClassLoader to load new classes, but instead the ClassLoader you delegated to.
After all, this sounds like a XY Problem. You want to execute some code using the scripting API and somehow control the environment.
Did you try to use a SecurityManager?
About your comment that you need your own ClassLoader to create a ScriptEngineManager: This ClassLoader is used to search for ScriptEngineFactory implementations. This is done using a service provider interface.
If you don't use your own script engine, this should not matter to you.
If your goal is to add a few jars so the engine can use it, create a new URLClassLoader with the platform class loader as parent. (Or extension class loader, depends on the java version.)
Set this ClassLoader as Thread.setContextClassLoader() and create the ScriptEngine.
If you did choose the parent of the URLClassLoader correctly, it will not see classes loadable by the application class loader.

Unable to cast to interface class with URLClassLoader and reflection

I have a jar:
/home/cole/lib/a.jar
And in this jar I have the following interface/classes (horrible names for illustration purposes only!):
CreatorInterface.java
Base.java (implements CreatorInterface.java)
AbstractBase.java (extends Base.java)
Implementation.java (extends AbstractBase.java)
In a separate project I have the following code:
final URL[] jars = new URL[] {
new File("/home/cole/lib/a.jar").toURL();
}
final URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars, null);
final Class<?> implementation = classLoader.loadClass("Implementation");
final CreatorInterface object = (CreatorInterface)implementation.newInstance();
However when I run the above, I get the following:
java.lang.ClassCastException: Implementation cannot be cast to CreatorInterface
Given Implementation is ultimately an instance of a class that implements CreatorInterface, why do I get the ClassCastException?
Update 1
This isn't a question about using URLClassLoader, the class is found ok, the problem appears to be in the instantiation. For example, the following code works fine:
final Object object = implementation.newInstance();
Update 2
As #davidxxx answered, I have the interface class twice (once in the jar and once in the project using it). Although the interface was the same, this was the cause of the issue.
However to make it work, I needed to fix my URLClassLoader like this, to avoid a ClassNotFoundException:
final ClassLoader parent = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
final URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars, parent);
This exception :
java.lang.ClassCastException: Implementation cannot be cast to
CreatorInterface
makes me think that you have very probably two distinct CreatorInterface classes : one included in the jar and another other coming from the client program that tries to load it.
Even if the two classes have the same name (qualified names), these are different classes for each classloader as here you use two unassociated classloaders.
You have the current classloader of the program that you run and this other classloader as you specified null as parent classloader :
final URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars, null);
So as you try to assign the object created by reflection to the CreatorInterface variable, the cast fails because two distinct CreatorInterface were loaded by each classloader and are used : one coming from the classloader of your client code and another coming from the the instantiated classloader.
Using a single classloader would solve the issue but a best practice would be including the jar in the classpath of the project and to ensure to have a single version of the classes provided in the jar.
To decouple things you should probably split the jar into 2 jars : an API jar that contains only the interface and an implementation jar that depends on the API jar and that contains other classes.
In the client code, add in the classpath only the API jar to be able to assign to a variable with the interface declared type.
About your second point :
This isn't a question about using URLClassLoader, the class is found ok, the problem appears to be in the instantiation. For example, the
following code works fine:
final Object object = implementation.newInstance();
In this case you don't refer the interface type.
You indeed assign the Implementation object to an Object and not to a CreatorInterface variable.
The correct/consistent interfaces and subclasses are loaded by the classloader but here you never give a chance to provoke a ClassCastException as you never assign it to a type of a duplicate class but Object that is defined a single time.
So the problem previously encountered cannot occur.
About the third point :
However to make it work, I needed to fix my URLClassLoader like this,
to avoid a ClassNotFoundException:
final ClassLoader parent = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
final URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars, parent);
It works because here you create a classloader associated to the parent classloader.
In fact if you did :
final URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars);
It would produce the same result as the URLClassLoader object created would use by default the delegation to the parent classloader (here the classloader that started your application).

JVM locks JAR files on startup

I've implemented a custom ClassLoader which is set via system property -Djava.system.class.loader=com.MyClassLoader. The CL contains a static initializer that invokes some code (before any class is loaded) manipulating the byte code of a class file within a jar (maven dependency) using the javassist library. This works fine, except that i cannot replace the old jar with the new one since the JVM is locking the file and only releases it when it terminates. Why is that and how can I enforce the JVM to release the lock?
Here is a little code snippet:
public class CustomClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
static {
...
modifyJar();
}
private static void modifyJar(){
URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
URL[] urls = urlClassLoader.getURLs();
for(URL url : urls) {
//find matching jar and modify byte code
}
replaceJarFile(metaData);
}
private static void replaceJarFile(JarMetaData jmd){
//add modified class to new jar file
JarFile jar = new JarFile(jmd.getJarFile());
...
//this method call returns false, jar is locked by another process (the JVM)
if(oldJarFile.delete()){
...
}
}
}
OS: Windows 10
JDK version: 1.8.0_131
It has never been specified that changing the jars in use by a JVM should be possible. And the JVM is locking the jars for quiet a long time now. Changing the classes within a jar in use would also bear the semantic problem of how to handle modifications to already loaded classes or even an ongoing class loading overlapping with a write.
Since modifying the jar would be a permanent change, the most reasonable approach for that would be doing it before starting the JVM, e.g. in a different JVM.
But if you want to change class definitions on-the-fly, you should write a Java Agent. For those JVMs supporting Java Agents, the Instrumentation API offers everything needed, e.g. transforming classes at load time or even redefining already loaded classes.
It also offers a standard way of adding jar files to the bootstrap or system class path, whereas assuming that the application class loader is a subclass of URLClassLoader will start to fail with Java 9.

Dynamically loaded Class cannot access Applet loaded Class

My StartApplet is small to keep startup quick.
It then downloads various classes in various jars using (URLClassLoader)getSystemClassLoader().
The problem I am experiencing is that there are several interfaces defined in the StartApplet which are passed to the dynamically downloaded classes using method invoke. I always get class not defined.
It seems the system class loader does not contain any StartApplet loaded classes including the interfaces.
So, I try loading in the interfaces into the systemClassLoader using a downloaded jar but I still get class not defined and I guess this is because the same class has been loaded in twice using difference class loaders and therefore is seen as two difference classes.
I tried loading the downloaded jars using the classloader of one of the interfaces(StartApplet) but there were errors.
I tried forgetting about the system class loader and instead creating a new URLClassLoader using the classloader of the interfaces(StartApplet) as the parant class loader but again errors occurred.
I have tried loading the dynamic jars into Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() but again errors occurred.
My question...
Is there a way to dynamically load classes in jars using (URLClassLoader)getSystemClassLoader() and allow them to see/access and use the classes that have already been loaded by the instantiating applet??
some code example would be really nice.
Many Thanks.
The crux is the system class loader doesnt reference the applet class loader.
The applet cannot start with any external jars so whatever classes it passes have to be loaded in with the applet.
I just need the dynamically loaded classes in the systemclassloader to be able to use the classes loaded with the applet.
please help.
ps. here are some snipets...
private void addPath(String _path)
{
try{
File f=new File(_path);
if(!f.exists())return;
if(!f.isDirectory())return;
Method method=SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER_CLASS.getDeclaredMethod("addURL",parameters);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER,new Object[]{f.toURI().toURL()});
}catch(Throwable _t){
handle(_t);
disconnect();}
}
private void addLibrary(String _name)
{
try{
Method method=SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER_CLASS.getDeclaredMethod("addURL",parameters);
method.setAccessible(true);
method.invoke(SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER,new Object[]{ClassLoader.getSystemResource(_name)});
}catch(Throwable _t){handle(_t);}
}
SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER=(URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader(); // DOESNT WORK
SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER=(URLClassLoader)MyInterface.class.getClassLoader(); // DOESNT WORK
SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER=(URLClassLoader)Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(); // DOESNT WORK
private void callWithInterface(MyInterface _myI)
{
Class<?> myClass=Class.forName("dynamic.MyClass",true,SYSTEM_CLASS_LOADER);
Constructor<?> myConstructor=myClass.getConstructor();
Object myInstance=myConstructor.newInstance();
Method m=myClass.getMethod("MyTest",new Class<?>[]{MyInterface.class});
String s=(String)m.invoke(myInstance,new Object[]{_myI});
}
last line causes...
Thread=Thread[Thread-17,4,http://MyDomain/-threadGroup]
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: MyInterface
java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(-1)
java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(-1)
java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(-2)
java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(-1)
java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(-1)
sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(-1)
java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(-1)
java.lang.Class.forName0(-2)
java.lang.Class.forName(-1)
StartApplet.run(23759)
java.lang.Thread.run(-1)
I have figured it out..
The problem I had was caused by a jar name conflict causing the required classes to fail at loading. Once I realised this and corrected the problem I successfully enabled the dynamically loaded classes to access the applet loaded classes by loading the dynamically loaded classes using the applet class loader instead of the system class loader.
I modified my code using the following lines and other adjustments to suit...
MyDynamicClassLoader=new URLClassLoader(new URL[0],MyAppletLoadedInterface.class.getClassLoader());
method.invoke(MyDynamicClassLoader,new Object[]{MyDynamicClassLoader.getResource(DynamicJarName)});
MyDynamicClassLoader now holds references to all applet loaded classes and dynamically loaded classes with the ability to reference each other. For some reason the system class loader does not hold the applet loaded classes.
Regards
Penny

Adding jar file to classpath at runtime without reflection tricks

There are several posts about how to add jar-file to classpath at runtime by following idea:
- get current system classpath;
- suppose it is URLClassLoader;
- use reflection to set access for protected addURL method;
- use mentioned method to add url to classpath.
Here is an example:
Adding files to java classpath at runtime
Because of 2 and 3 steps this looks like "nasty hack".
How could I extend URLClassLoader and set it as a current? I am bit confused with classloaders and tried the following:
public static void main(String... args) {
URLClassLoader loader = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{new URL("file:jxl.jar")});
System.out.println(loader.loadClass("jxl.Workbook"));
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(loader);
System.out.println(Class.forName("jxl.Workbook"));
} // main
I get ClassNotFoundException on the fourth line, while second works ok. (why it is so, by the way?)
The Class.forName method uses the "defining class loader of the current class," not the thread context classloader. In your case the ClassLoader that Class.forName will use is the one that loaded your application, i.e. the system class loader. This is a class loader that looks for resources in the class path.

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