Package org.springframework.core

# Interface SmartClassLoader

public interface SmartClassLoader
Interface to be implemented by a reloading-aware ClassLoader (for example, a Groovy-based ClassLoader). Detected for example by Spring's CGLIB proxy factory for making a caching decision.

If a ClassLoader does not implement this interface, then all the classes obtained from it should be considered as not reloadable (i.e. cacheable).

Since:
  2.5.1
Author:
  Juergen Hoeller

## Method Summary

Modifier and Type
Method
Description
`default ClassLoader`
`getOriginalClassLoader()`
Return the original ClassLoader for this SmartClassLoader, or potentially the present loader itself if it is self-sufficient.
`default boolean`
`isClassReloadable(Class<?> clazz)`
Determine whether the given class is reloadable (in this ClassLoader).
`default Class<?>`
`publicDefineClass(String name, byte[] b, ProtectionDomain protectionDomain)`
Define a custom class (typically a CGLIB proxy class) in this class loader.

## Method Details

### isClassReloadable

default boolean isClassReloadable(Class<?> clazz)
Determine whether the given class is reloadable (in this ClassLoader).

Typically used to check whether the result may be cached (for this ClassLoader) or whether it should be reobtained every time. The default implementation always returns `false`.

Parameters:
  `clazz` - the class to check (usually loaded from this ClassLoader)
Returns:
  whether the class should be expected to appear in a reloaded version (with a different `Class` object) later on

### getOriginalClassLoader

default ClassLoader getOriginalClassLoader()
Return the original ClassLoader for this SmartClassLoader, or potentially the present loader itself if it is self-sufficient.

The default implementation returns the local ClassLoader reference as-is. In case of a reloadable or other selectively overriding ClassLoader which commonly deals with unaffected classes from a base application class loader, this should get implemented to return the original ClassLoader that the present loader got derived from (for example, through `return getParent();`).

This gets specifically used in Spring's AOP framework to determine the class loader for a specific proxy in case the target class has not been defined in the present class loader. In case of a reloadable class loader, we prefer the base application class loader for proxying general classes not defined in the reloadable class loader itself.

Returns:
  the original ClassLoader (the same reference by default)
Since:
  5.3.5
See Also:
  - `ClassLoader.getParent()`
  - `org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator`

### publicDefineClass

default Class<?> publicDefineClass(String name, byte[] b, @Nullable ProtectionDomain protectionDomain)
Define a custom class (typically a CGLIB proxy class) in this class loader.

This is a public equivalent of the protected `defineClass(String, byte[], int, int, ProtectionDomain)` method in `ClassLoader` which is traditionally invoked via reflection. A concrete implementation in a custom class loader should simply delegate to that protected method in order to make classloader-specific definitions publicly available without "illegal access" warnings on JDK 9+: `return defineClass(name, b, 0, b.length, protectionDomain)`. Note that the JDK 9+ `Lookup#defineClass` method does not support a custom target class loader for the new definition; it rather always defines the class in the same class loader as the lookup's context class.

Parameters:
  `name` - the name of the class
  `b` - the bytes defining the class
  `protectionDomain` - the protection domain for the class, if any
Returns:
  the newly created class
Throws:
  `LinkageError` - in case of a bad class definition
  `SecurityException` - in case of an invalid definition attempt
  `UnsupportedOperationException` - in case of a custom definition attempt not being possible (thrown by the default implementation in this interface)
Since:
  5.3.4
See Also:
  - `ClassLoader.defineClass(String, byte[], int, int, ProtectionDomain)`