ClassLoaderReference.java revision 13430:5e8370fb3ed9 
1/*
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3 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
4 *
5 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
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7 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
8 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
9 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
10 *
11 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
12 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
13 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
14 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
15 * accompanied this code).
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19 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
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21 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
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24 */
25
26package com.sun.jdi;
27
28import java.util.List;
29
30/**
31 * A class loader object from the target VM.
32 * A ClassLoaderReference is an {@link ObjectReference} with additional
33 * access to classloader-specific information from the target VM. Instances
34 * ClassLoaderReference are obtained through calls to
35 * {@link ReferenceType#classLoader}
36 *
37 * @see ObjectReference
38 *
39 * @author Gordon Hirsch
40 * @since  1.3
41 */
42public interface ClassLoaderReference extends ObjectReference {
43
44    /**
45     * Returns a list of all loaded classes that were defined by this
46     * class loader. No ordering of this list guaranteed.
47     * <P>
48     * The returned list will include reference types
49     * loaded at least to the point of preparation and
50     * types (like array) for which preparation is
51     * not defined.
52     *
53     * @return a List of {@link ReferenceType} objects mirroring types
54     * loaded by this class loader. The list has length 0 if no types
55     * have been defined by this classloader.
56     */
57    List<ReferenceType> definedClasses();
58
59    /**
60     * Returns a list of all classes for which this class loader has
61     * been recorded as the initiating loader in the target VM.
62     * The list contains ReferenceTypes defined directly by this loader
63     * (as returned by {@link #definedClasses}) and any types for which
64     * loading was delegated by this class loader to another class loader.
65     * <p>
66     * The visible class list has useful properties with respect to
67     * the type namespace. A particular type name will occur at most
68     * once in the list. Each field or variable declared with that
69     * type name in a class defined by
70     * this class loader must be resolved to that single type.
71     * <p>
72     * No ordering of the returned list is guaranteed.
73     * <p>
74     * See
75     * <cite>The Java&trade; Virtual Machine Specification</cite>,
76     * section 5.3 - Creation and Loading
77     * for more information on the initiating classloader.
78     * <p>
79     * Note that unlike {@link #definedClasses()}
80     * and {@link VirtualMachine#allClasses()},
81     * some of the returned reference types may not be prepared.
82     * Attempts to perform some operations on unprepared reference types
83     * (e.g. {@link ReferenceType#fields() fields()}) will throw
84     * a {@link ClassNotPreparedException}.
85     * Use {@link ReferenceType#isPrepared()} to determine if
86     * a reference type is prepared.
87     *
88     * @return a List of {@link ReferenceType} objects mirroring classes
89     * initiated by this class loader. The list has length 0 if no classes
90     * are visible to this classloader.
91     */
92    List<ReferenceType> visibleClasses();
93}
94