Returns the Class object for the class or interface
with the given string name. This method is a replacement for
Class.forName(String name). Unlike
Class.forName(String name) (which always uses the
caller's loader or one of its ancestors), classForName
uses a thread-specific loader that has no delegation relationship
with the caller's loader. It attempts the load the desired class
with the thread-specific context class loader and falls back to
Class.forName(String name) only if the context class
loader cannot load the class.
Loading a class with a loader that is not necessarily an ancestor
of the caller's loader is a crucial thing in many scenarios. As an
example, assume that JacORB was loaded by the boot class loader,
and suppose that some code in JacORB contains a call
Class.forName(someUserClass). Such usage of
Class.forName effectively forces the user to place
someUserClass in the boot class path. If
classForName(someUserClass) were used instead, the user
class would be loaded by the context class loader, which by default
is set to the system (CLASSPATH) classloader.
In this simple example above, the default setting of the context class
loader allows classes in the boot classpath to reach classes in the
system classpath. In other scenarios, the context class loader might
be different from the system classloader. Middleware systems like
servlet containers or EJB containers set the context class loader so
that a given thread can reach user-provided classes that are not in
the system classpath.
For maximum flexibility, classForName should replace
Class.forName(String name) in nearly all cases.
Parameters:
name - the fully qualified name of a class the Class object for that class
throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if name is null
throws:
ClassNotFoundException - if the named class cannot be found
throws:
LinkageError - if the linkage fails
throws:
ExceptionInInitializerError - if the class initialization fails | 