Implementing a plugin interface

Question

What's a good way of adding a plugin interface such that it's possible to have optional components?

I'm aware of the Class.forName() approach (used with JDBC for example) but there is also this approach to dynamic class loading.

It would seem so. Question edited. Here's an article that explains the differences between the two: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/javaqa/2003-03/01-qa-0314-forname.html — James P., May 16 '10 at 09:34

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

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You may have a look at this: http://jpf.sourceforge.net/.

A good approach would be to load jar files in a specified directory at runtime and look if they contain plugin classes. Have a look at this: How to load a jar file at runtime.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

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answered May 16 '10 at 08:03

Simon

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Thanks Simon. I'll have a look at those. If there's a second link to StackOverflow, I'd be interested in that too. – James P. May 16 '10 at 08:20
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I found those links by searching 'java plugin architecture' on google – Simon May 16 '10 at 08:23

Implementing a plugin interface

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