Overview (Classfile Reader)

Classfile Reader
Package	Description
org.netbeans.modules.classfile	The org.netbeans.modules.classfile package supports direct access to a Java Virtual Machine classfile contents.

classfile The ClassFile library is an API to read Java classfiles, as described by The Java Virtual Machine Specification. Given a file or stream reference to a Java classfile, the API provides read-only access to all of its class attributes, including type information, methods and fields, generics support (if any), etc.
NOTE: this library is not really a NetBeans module, in that it doesn't have any NetBeans references. It therefore has nothing pluggable, no NetBeans Lookups, and is not extensible.

What is New (see all changes)?

Feb 13 '13 Support for Java 7 classfile enhancements.
Java 7 added a several new constant pool entry types to support the invokeDynamic instruction. These need to be modeled by the library.
Dec 6 '05 Support for Java 6 classfile enhancements.
Java 6 added a new classfile verifier, which uses the new code attribute, StackMapTable. This adds support for that attribute.
Nov 9 '04 Support for Java 5 classfile enhancements.
Java 5 added several attributes to the JVM classfile format to support generics, annotations, varargs, and enums. The classfile module was enhanced to add access to all of these new attributes.

Use Cases

The normal usecase is for a client wanting to inspect a classfile. A ClassFile instance is created with either a String path, File or InputStream instance. All attributes of the classfile are available as properties, such as getSourceFileName or getMethods.

Exported Interfaces

This table lists all of the module exported APIs with defined stability classifications. It is generated based on answers to questions about the architecture of the module. Read them all...

Group of java interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
classfile	Exported	Stable

Implementation Details

Where are the sources for the module?

The sources for the module are in the NetBeans Mercurial repositories.

What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of a plain module dependency?

Nothing.

Read more about the implementation in the answers to architecture questions.

Classfile ReaderStable