JavaClass

A JavaScript reference to a Java class.

Core object
Implemented in	JavaScript 1.1, NES 2.0

Created by
A reference to the class name used with the Packages object:

Packages.JavaClass

where JavaClass is the fully-specified name of the object's Java class. The LiveConnect java, sun, and netscape objects provide shortcuts for commonly used Java packages and also create JavaClass objects.

Description
A JavaClass object is a reference to one of the classes in a Java package, such as netscape.javascript.JSObject. A JavaPackage object is a reference to a Java package, such as netscape.javascript. In JavaScript, the JavaPackage and JavaClass hierarchy reflect the Java package and class hierarchy.

You can pass a JavaClass object to a Java method which requires an argument of type java.lang.Class.

Backward compatibility

JavaScript 1.3 and earlier. You must create a wrapper around an instance of java.lang.Class before you pass it as a parameter to a Java method—JavaClass objects are not automatically converted to instances of java.lang.Class.

Property Summary
The properties of a JavaClass object are the static fields of the Java class.

Method Summary
The methods of a JavaClass object are the static methods of the Java class.

Examples
Example 1. In the following example, x is a JavaClass object referring to java.awt.Font. Because BOLD is a static field in the Font class, it is also a property of the JavaClass object.

x = java.awt.Font
myFont = x("helv",x.BOLD,10) // creates a Font object

The previous example omits the Packages keyword and uses the java synonym because the Font class is in the java package.

Example 2. In the following example, the JavaClass object java.lang.String is passed as an argument to the newInstance method which creates an array:

var cars = java.lang.reflect.Array.newInstance(java.lang.String, 15)

See also
JavaArray, JavaObject, JavaPackage, Packages

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Last Updated September 28, 2000