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General J2EE: Class.forName() vs getContextClassLoader().loadClass()

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  1. Class.forName() vs getContextClassLoader().loadClass() (4 messages)

    • Posted by: D Liang
    • Posted on: September 03 2008 22:18 EDT
    Hi all, I've stumbled by these two methods recently: Class.forName(className); Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().loadClass(className); I want to know the reason why most programmer is cheering for the latter method? Have been reading a lot about classloading articles but have not got a conclusion yet?
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    Threaded Messages (4)

  2. because of ...[ Go to top ]

    They are not the equivalent. :-) they use different class loaders. Class.forName(String) == Class.forName(className, true, currentLoader) where currentLoader denotes the defining class loader of the current class. Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().loadClass(className); will load class using context class loader.
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  3. thanks![ Go to top ]

    thanks a lot!I have found some explains online and i have got them already!thanks anyway!
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  4. Class.forName() vs getContextClassLoader().loadClass()[ Go to top ]

    the biggest difference ive seen is the later can load from outside of the same jar. so if the class your using to load is in a different jar to the class you want, then it would otherwise fail with class.forname. i suggest using the context version as default since you never know where your code will end up. this is particually important when working with application containers

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  5. Class.forName() vs getContextClassLoader().loadClass()[ Go to top ]

    the biggest difference ive seen is the later can load from outside of the same jar. so if the class your using to load is in a different jar to the class you want, then it would otherwise fail with class.forname. i suggest using the context version as default since you never know where your code will end up. this is particually important when working with application containers

     

    I don't think so.

    Class.forName() can load any class from any jar that exist in the class path, 

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