Adding files to java classpath at runtime [duplicate]

Is it possible to add a file (not necessarily a jar file) to java classpath at runtime. Specifically, the file already is present in the classpath, what I want is whether I can add a modified copy of this file to the classpath.

Thanks,

Solution 1:

You can only add folders or jar files to a class loader. So if you have a single class file, you need to put it into the appropriate folder structure first.

Here is a rather ugly hack that adds to the SystemClassLoader at runtime:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.File;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.net.URL;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;

public class ClassPathHacker {

  private static final Class[] parameters = new Class[]{URL.class};

  public static void addFile(String s) throws IOException {
    File f = new File(s);
    addFile(f);
  }//end method

  public static void addFile(File f) throws IOException {
    addURL(f.toURL());
  }//end method


  public static void addURL(URL u) throws IOException {

    URLClassLoader sysloader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
    Class sysclass = URLClassLoader.class;

    try {
      Method method = sysclass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", parameters);
      method.setAccessible(true);
      method.invoke(sysloader, new Object[]{u});
    } catch (Throwable t) {
      t.printStackTrace();
      throw new IOException("Error, could not add URL to system classloader");
    }//end try catch

   }//end method

}//end class

The reflection is necessary to access the protected method addURL. This could fail if there is a SecurityManager.

Solution 2:

Try this one on for size.

private static void addSoftwareLibrary(File file) throws Exception {
    Method method = URLClassLoader.class.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{URL.class});
    method.setAccessible(true);
    method.invoke(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader(), new Object[]{file.toURI().toURL()});
}

This edits the system class loader to include the given library jar. It is pretty ugly, but it works.

Solution 3:

The way I have done this is by using my own class loader

URLClassLoader urlClassLoader = (URLClassLoader) ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
DynamicURLClassLoader dynalLoader = new DynamicURLClassLoader(urlClassLoader);

And create the following class:

public class DynamicURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {

    public DynamicURLClassLoader(URLClassLoader classLoader) {
        super(classLoader.getURLs());
    }

    @Override
    public void addURL(URL url) {
        super.addURL(url);
    }
}

Works without any reflection

Solution 4:

You coud try java.net.URLClassloader with the url of the folder/jar where your updated class resides and use it instead of the default classloader when creating a new thread.