How to replace classes in a running application in java ?

Question

Say I have a class named NameGenerator. I can use this to generate names according to a given logic. Then I write a TestNameGeneration class with a method that asks for a letter from the user and generate a name in accordance. Now I want to change the logic in NameGeneration class and apply that particular change without stopping the application.

I did this to learn more about class loaders and can someone please explain the key concepts that I have to learn to do something like that or site any references ?

Evgeniy Dorofeev · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-14T15:58:35.283

Here is a working test. Every 5 secs Test.main() reloads test.Test1.class from the file system and calls Test1.hello()

package test;

public class Test1 {
    public void hello() {
        System.out.println("Hello !");
    }
}

public class Test {

    static class TestClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
        @Override
        public Class<?> loadClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
            if (name.equals("test.Test1")) {
                try {
                    InputStream is = Test.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("test/Test1.class");
                    byte[] buf = new byte[10000];
                    int len = is.read(buf);
                    return defineClass(name, buf, 0, len);
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    throw new ClassNotFoundException("", e);
                }
            }
            return getParent().loadClass(name);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        for (;;) {
            Class cls = new TestClassLoader().loadClass("test.Test1");
            Object obj = cls.newInstance();
            cls.getMethod("hello").invoke(obj);
            Thread.sleep(5000);
        }
    }
}

Run it. Then change and recompile Test1

System.out.println("Hello !!!");

while Test is running. You will see Test1.hello output changed

...
Hello !
Hello !
Hello !!!
Hello !!!

This is how eg Tomcat reloads webapps. It has a separate ClassLoader for each webapp and loads a new version in a new ClassLoader. The old one is GCed just like any Java object as well as the old classes.

Note that we loaded Test1 with TestClassLoader and invoked its first method with reflection. But all Test1 dependencies will be implicitly loaded with Test1 class loader, that is all the Test1 application will be loaded by JVM into TestClassLoader.

Thanks for the help. Having new class loader instance for every new class loading as you've done here solved the problem. — Prasad Weera, Jan 14 '13 at 11:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 10:55

1

There are 2 ways:

To overwrite the class loader you're using by first using the existing classloader to bootstrap your application and specifically for the class that you need to have dynamic update, you have to use the overwritten classloader.
To use OSGi framework. Depending on the scale of your application, OSGi framework may not be a good choice as it requires you to follow it's coding convention.

Hope it helps

answered Jan 14 '13 at 10:55

Wins

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+1 for OSGi. It supports adding/ removing bundles at runtime out-of-the-box. – Puce Jan 14 '13 at 10:58
1

Thanks for the first suggestion. But I don't want to use OSGI as the only intention of this small application is learning core java class loading concepts. – Prasad Weera Jan 14 '13 at 11:05

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 10:49

0

What about a strategy pattern? It could be a better solution for your problem instead of using classloaders.

answered Jan 14 '13 at 10:49

Uwe Plonus

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How it could help to him dynamically load changed version of classes? – Andremoniy Jan 14 '13 at 10:51
As I know startegy pattern would help to choose between several implementations as we prefer at run time by coding to an interface. But we cannot introduce a whole new implementation n the fly. – Prasad Weera Jan 14 '13 at 11:02
@Prasad you can inject on the fly : see my example above with strategy pattern and DI: setNameGeneration(Class.forName("com.bean.ClasseA").newInstance() ) – Jean-Christophe Blanchard Jan 14 '13 at 11:17

Jean-Christophe Blanchard · Answer 4 · 2013-01-14T11:12:15.917

0

It's really simple, you will use of advantage of a OOP and use interface, don't need to manage classloader You can inject the implementation with a setter:

Create an interface called NameGeneration Create n implementation NameGenerationImpl1, NameGenerationimpl2 for instance In your client class define a variable:

NameGeneration nameGeneration ;

and the setter :

 public void setNameGeneration(NameGeneration nameGeneration) {
 this.nameGeneration = nameGeneration ;
}

nameGeneration will generate what you want.

When you change the algorithm you change the implementation by doing for instance :

setNameGeneration(new NameGenerationImpl1()) ;

or

setNameGeneration(new NameGenerationImpl2()) ;

edited Jan 14 '13 at 11:12

answered Jan 14 '13 at 10:56

Jean-Christophe Blanchard

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What is `POO`? I don't get it. – Mohammad Faisal Jan 14 '13 at 11:06
This is basically the strategy pattern. – Uwe Plonus Jan 14 '13 at 11:10
@Uwe Plonus you are right OOP and my example use strategy pattern coupled with dependancy injection. – Jean-Christophe Blanchard Jan 14 '13 at 11:15
This is polymorphism, where the implementation could be defined at compile or runtime; however, the class will be loaded only once. In this question, what is required is to be able to reload the same-class multiple times during the program execution. Check Evgeniy's answer! – Jalal Kiswani Mar 30 '20 at 15:10
@Jalal Thanks for the precision, I supposed that the class change on runtime but not the classes content; in this case, class content change dynamically effectively Evgeniy's answer is the good one and is flagged as such. – Jean-Christophe Blanchard Aug 10 '21 at 21:27

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 14 '13 at 14:39

You can write your own custom classloader. When ever there is change in the class file or resource/jar containing the class file (check the timestamp), destroy the previous classloader instance and create a new classloader instance which in turn will load the new class file.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 23 '19 at 13:29

If you are working in Enterprise level application and wants to avoid application context reloading everytime you change a class , then Using DCEVM and HotSwapAgent can help you better. Below command will add DCEVM to your JDK,

java -jar DCEVM-8u181-installer.jar

And you have to add below VM arguments to your Run command (or) configuration

-XXaltjvm=dcevm -javaagent:Your_directory_location/hotswap-agent-1.3.0.jar .jar=autoHotswap=true

Reference : https://dzone.com/articles/hot-swap-java-bytecode-on-runtime

How to replace classes in a running application in java ?

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