java.lang.reflect
Class Proxy
java.lang.Object
|
+--java.lang.reflect.Proxy
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable
This class allows you to dynamically create an instance of any (or
even multiple) interfaces by reflection, and decide at runtime
how that instance will behave by giving it an appropriate
InvocationHandler. Proxy classes serialize specially, so
that the proxy object can be reused between VMs, without requiring
a persistent copy of the generated class code.
Creation
To create a proxy for some interface Foo:
InvocationHandler handler = new MyInvocationHandler(...);
Class proxyClass = Proxy.getProxyClass(
Foo.class.getClassLoader(), new Class[] { Foo.class });
Foo f = (Foo) proxyClass
.getConstructor(new Class[] { InvocationHandler.class })
.newInstance(new Object[] { handler });
or more simply:
Foo f = (Foo) Proxy.newProxyInstance(Foo.class.getClassLoader(),
new Class[] { Foo.class },
handler);
Dynamic Proxy Classes
A dynamic proxy class is created at runtime, and has the following
properties:
- The class is
public
and final
,
and is neither abstract
nor an inner class.
- The class has no canonical name (there is no formula you can use
to determine or generate its name), but begins with the
sequence "$Proxy". Abuse this knowledge at your own peril.
(For now, '$' in user identifiers is legal, but it may not
be that way forever. You weren't using '$' in your
identifiers, were you?)
- The class extends Proxy, and explicitly implements all the
interfaces specified at creation, in order (this is important
for determining how method invocation is resolved). Note that
a proxy class implements Serializable, at least
implicitly, since Proxy does, but true serial behavior
depends on using a serializable invocation handler as well.
- If at least one interface is non-public, the proxy class
will be in the same package. Otherwise, the package is
unspecified. This will work even if the package is sealed
from user-generated classes, because Proxy classes are
generated by a trusted source. Meanwhile, the proxy class
belongs to the classloader you designated.
- Reflection works as expected: Class#getInterfaces() and
Class#getMethods() work as they do on normal classes.
- The method #isProxyClass() will distinguish between
true proxy classes and user extensions of this class. It only
returns true for classes created by #getProxyClass.
- The ProtectionDomain of a proxy class is the same as for
bootstrap classes, such as Object or Proxy, since it is created by
a trusted source. This protection domain will typically be granted
java.security.AllPermission. But this is not a security
risk, since there are adequate permissions on reflection, which is
the only way to create an instance of the proxy class.
- The proxy class contains a single constructor, which takes as
its only argument an InvocationHandler. The method
#newInstance is shorthand to do the necessary
reflection.
Proxy Instances
A proxy instance is an instance of a proxy class. It has the
following properties, many of which follow from the properties of a
proxy class listed above:
- For a proxy class with Foo listed as one of its interfaces, the
expression
proxy instanceof Foo
will return true,
and the expression (Foo) proxy
will succeed without
a ClassCastException.
- Each proxy instance has an invocation handler, which can be
accessed by #getInvocationHandler(Object). Any call
to an interface method, including Object#hashcode(),
Object#equals(Object), or Object#toString(),
but excluding the public final methods of Object, will be
encoded and passed to the InvocationHandler#invoke
method of this handler.
Inheritance Issues
A proxy class may inherit a method from more than one interface.
The order in which interfaces are listed matters, because it determines
which reflected Method object will be passed to the invocation
handler. This means that the dynamically generated class cannot
determine through which interface a method is being invoked.
In short, if a method is declared in Object (namely, hashCode,
equals, or toString), then Object will be used; otherwise, the
leftmost interface that inherits or declares a method will be used,
even if it has a more permissive throws clause than what the proxy
class is allowed. Thus, in the invocation handler, it is not always
safe to assume that every class listed in the throws clause of the
passed Method object can safely be thrown; fortunately, the Proxy
instance is robust enough to wrap all illegal checked exceptions in
UndeclaredThrowableException.
Since:Author:- Eric Blake <ebb9@email.byu.edu>
See Also:
h
protected InvocationHandler h
The invocation handler for this proxy instance. For Proxy, this
field is unused, but it appears here in order to be serialized in all
proxy classes.
NOTE: This implementation is more secure for proxy classes
than what Sun specifies. Sun does not require h to be immutable, but
this means you could change h after the fact by reflection. However,
by making h immutable, we may break non-proxy classes which extend
Proxy.
Proxy
protected Proxy(java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler handler)
Constructs a new Proxy from a subclass (usually a proxy class),
with the specified invocation handler.
NOTE: This throws a NullPointerException if you attempt
to create a proxy instance with a null handler using reflection.
This behavior is not yet specified by Sun; see Sun Bug 4487672.
Parameters:
Throws:
getInvocationHandler
public static InvocationHandler getInvocationHandler(java.lang.Object proxy)
Returns the invocation handler for the given proxy instance.
NOTE: We guarantee a non-null result if successful,
but Sun allows the creation of a proxy instance with a null
handler. See the comments for #Proxy(InvocationHandler).
Parameters:
Returns:
- the invocation handler, guaranteed non-null.
Throws:
getProxyClass
public static synchronized Class getProxyClass(java.lang.ClassLoader loader, Class[][] interfaces)
Returns the proxy Class for the given ClassLoader and array
of interfaces, dynamically generating it if necessary.
There are several restrictions on this method, the violation of
which will result in an IllegalArgumentException or
NullPointerException:
- All objects in `interfaces' must represent distinct interfaces.
Classes, primitive types, null, and duplicates are forbidden.
- The interfaces must be visible in the specified ClassLoader.
In other words, for each interface i:
Class.forName(i.getName(), false, loader) == i
must be true.
- All non-public interfaces (if any) must reside in the same
package, or the proxy class would be non-instantiable. If
there are no non-public interfaces, the package of the proxy
class is unspecified.
- All interfaces must be compatible - if two declare a method
with the same name and parameters, the return type must be
the same and the throws clause of the proxy class will be
the maximal subset of subclasses of the throws clauses for
each method that is overridden.
- VM constraints limit the number of interfaces a proxy class
may directly implement (however, the indirect inheritance
of Serializable does not count against this limit).
Even though most VMs can theoretically have 65535
superinterfaces for a class, the actual limit is smaller
because a class's constant pool is limited to 65535 entries,
and not all entries can be interfaces.
Note that different orders of interfaces produce distinct classes.
Parameters:
Returns:
- the Class object of the proxy class
Throws:
isProxyClass
public static synchronized boolean isProxyClass(Class clazz)
Returns true if and only if the Class object is a dynamically created
proxy class (created by
getProxyClass
or by the
syntactic sugar of
newProxyInstance
).
This check is secure (in other words, it is not simply
clazz.getSuperclass() == Proxy.class
), it will not
be spoofed by non-proxy classes that extend Proxy.
Parameters:
Returns:
- true if the class represents a proxy class
Throws:
newProxyInstance
public static Object newProxyInstance(java.lang.ClassLoader loader, Class[][] interfaces, java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler handler)
Combines several methods into one. This is equivalent to:
Proxy.getProxyClass(loader, interfaces)
.getConstructor(new Class[] {InvocationHandler.class})
.newInstance(new Object[] {handler});
except that it will not fail with the normal problems caused
by reflection. It can still fail for the same reasons documented
in getProxyClass, or if handler is null.
Parameters:
Returns:
- a proxy instance implementing the specified interfaces
Throws:
See Also:
Creation
To create a proxy for some interface Foo: or more simply:Dynamic Proxy Classes
A dynamic proxy class is created at runtime, and has the following properties:public
andfinal
, and is neitherabstract
nor an inner class.Proxy Instances
A proxy instance is an instance of a proxy class. It has the following properties, many of which follow from the properties of a proxy class listed above:proxy instanceof Foo
will return true, and the expression(Foo) proxy
will succeed without a ClassCastException.Inheritance Issues
A proxy class may inherit a method from more than one interface. The order in which interfaces are listed matters, because it determines which reflected Method object will be passed to the invocation handler. This means that the dynamically generated class cannot determine through which interface a method is being invoked.In short, if a method is declared in Object (namely, hashCode, equals, or toString), then Object will be used; otherwise, the leftmost interface that inherits or declares a method will be used, even if it has a more permissive throws clause than what the proxy class is allowed. Thus, in the invocation handler, it is not always safe to assume that every class listed in the throws clause of the passed Method object can safely be thrown; fortunately, the Proxy instance is robust enough to wrap all illegal checked exceptions in UndeclaredThrowableException.