Module java.base

Package java.lang.reflect


package java.lang.reflect
Provides classes and interfaces for obtaining reflective information about classes and objects. Reflection allows programmatic access to information about the fields, methods and constructors of loaded classes, and the use of reflected fields, methods, and constructors to operate on their underlying counterparts, within encapsulation and security restrictions.

AccessibleObject allows suppression of access checks if the necessary ReflectPermission is available.

Array provides static methods to dynamically create and access arrays.

Classes in this package, along with java.lang.Class accommodate applications such as debuggers, interpreters, object inspectors, class browsers, and services such as Object Serialization and JavaBeans that need access to either the public members of a target object (based on its runtime class) or the members declared by a given class.

Since:
1.1
  • Interface Summary
    Interface
    Description
    AnnotatedArrayType represents the potentially annotated use of an array type, whose component type may itself represent the annotated use of a type.
    Represents an annotated construct of the program currently running in this VM.
    AnnotatedParameterizedType represents the potentially annotated use of a parameterized type, whose type arguments may themselves represent annotated uses of types.
    AnnotatedType represents the potentially annotated use of a type in the program currently running in this VM.
    AnnotatedTypeVariable represents the potentially annotated use of a type variable, whose declaration may have bounds which themselves represent annotated uses of types.
    AnnotatedWildcardType represents the potentially annotated use of a wildcard type argument, whose upper or lower bounds may themselves represent annotated uses of types.
    GenericArrayType represents an array type whose component type is either a parameterized type or a type variable.
    A common interface for all entities that declare type variables.
    InvocationHandler is the interface implemented by the invocation handler of a proxy instance.
    Member is an interface that reflects identifying information about a single member (a field or a method) or a constructor.
    ParameterizedType represents a parameterized type such as Collection<String>.
    Type is the common superinterface for all types in the Java programming language.
    TypeVariable is the common superinterface for type variables of kinds.
    WildcardType represents a wildcard type expression, such as ?, ? extends Number, or ? super Integer.
  • Class Summary
    Class
    Description
    The AccessibleObject class is the base class for Field, Method, and Constructor objects (known as reflected objects).
    The Array class provides static methods to dynamically create and access Java arrays.
    Constructor provides information about, and access to, a single constructor for a class.
    A shared superclass for the common functionality of Method and Constructor.
    A Field provides information about, and dynamic access to, a single field of a class or an interface.
    A Method provides information about, and access to, a single method on a class or interface.
    The Modifier class provides static methods and constants to decode class and member access modifiers.
    Information about method parameters.
    Proxy provides static methods for creating objects that act like instances of interfaces but allow for customized method invocation.
    A RecordComponent provides information about, and dynamic access to, a component of a record class.
    The Permission class for reflective operations.
  • Exception Summary
    Exception
    Description
    Thrown when Java language access checks cannot be suppressed.
    InvocationTargetException is a checked exception that wraps an exception thrown by an invoked method or constructor.
    Thrown when a semantically malformed parameterized type is encountered by a reflective method that needs to instantiate it.
    Thrown when the java.lang.reflect package attempts to read method parameters from a class file and determines that one or more parameters are malformed.
    Thrown by a method invocation on a proxy instance if its invocation handler's invoke method throws a checked exception (a Throwable that is not assignable to RuntimeException or Error) that is not assignable to any of the exception types declared in the throws clause of the method that was invoked on the proxy instance and dispatched to the invocation handler.
  • Error Summary
    Error
    Description
    Thrown when a syntactically malformed signature attribute is encountered by a reflective method that needs to interpret the generic signature information for a class or interface, method or constructor.