Java class reloading

I'm using jboss server and having all my classes inside a jar file.

Now if I change any of the java files, I need to replace the class file in the jar and have to restart the server.

Is there any way to dynamically load the newly created class file without the server restart?

Thanks in adva开发者_运维技巧nce.

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I've had great success with JRebel (http://www.zeroturnaround.com/jrebel/). This is a very good product that enables seamless class reloading for the vast majority of modifications you can make to a Java class. There is no restarting of the app sever or even the application required, classes simply reload behind the scenes.

It comes with a free 30 day trial so you can see if it works for you.

(Disclaimer: I'm in no way connected to Zero Turnaround)

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It appears that you have to trick the server into reloading your application by modifying web.xml -- meaning you can open web.xml in an editor enter a space then delete and save the file or change the modification date on the file with a utility.

JBoss doesn't seem to have a handy feature like Tomcat's reloadable="true" flag in Tomcat's Server.xml file.

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there are a number of solutions, none of them particularly clean or easy.

As stated, changing the web.xml will cause the context to reload and hence refresh the source code and this can be done without restarting the server. This works because "WEB-INF/web.xml" is configured as WatchedResource in the TOMCAT/conf/Context.xml file. That is every context inherits this setting and automatically watches this file. You can remove this behaviour but you can also provide WatchedResource values in your own web.xml to watch additional files. While I don't recommend it, you could add all of your class files to this and the context would reload when you change one file.

A better solution relies on the fact that a Class can be reloaded when you discard the ClassLoader that loaded the Class. Therefore if you manage your hot swappable code in your own ClassLoader then you can refresh your code without restarting the context if you refresh the ClassLoader. Easier said than done, unfortunately but it may get you started.