Class java.lang.reflect.Constructor
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Class java.lang.reflect.Constructor

Object
   |
   +----java.lang.reflect.Constructor

public final class Constructor
extends Object
implements Member
Constructor provides information about, and access to, a single constructor for a class.

Constructor permits widening conversions to occur when matching the actual parameters to newInstance() with the underlying constructor's formal parameters, but throws an IllegalArgumentException if a narrowing conversion would occur.

Author:
Nakul Saraiya
See Also:
Member, Class, getConstructors(), getConstructor(), getDeclaredConstructors()

Method Index

 o equals(Object)
Compares this Constructor against the specified object.
 o getDeclaringClass()
Returns the Class object representing the class that declares the constructor represented by this Constructor object.
 o getExceptionTypes()
Returns an array of Class objects that represent the types of the checked exceptions thrown by the underlying constructor represented by this Constructor object.
 o getModifiers()
Returns the Java language modifiers for the constructor represented by this Constructor object, as an integer.
 o getName()
Returns the name of this constructor, as a string.
 o getParameterTypes()
Returns an array of Class objects that represent the formal parameter types, in declaration order, of the constructor represented by this Constructor object.
 o hashCode()
Returns a hashcode for this Constructor.
 o newInstance(Object[])
Uses the constructor represented by this Constructor object to create and initialize a new instance of the constructor's declaring class, with the specified initialization parameters.
 o toString()
Return a string describing this Constructor.

Methods

 o equals
public boolean equals(Object obj)
Compares this Constructor against the specified object. Returns true if the objects are the same. Two Constructors are the same if they were declared by the same class and have the same formal parameter types.

Overrides:
equals in class Object
 o getDeclaringClass
public java.lang.Class getDeclaringClass()
Returns the Class object representing the class that declares the constructor represented by this Constructor object.

 o getExceptionTypes
public java.lang.Class[] getExceptionTypes()
Returns an array of Class objects that represent the types of the checked exceptions thrown by the underlying constructor represented by this Constructor object. Returns an array of length 0 if the constructor throws no checked exceptions.

 o getModifiers
public native int getModifiers()
Returns the Java language modifiers for the constructor represented by this Constructor object, as an integer. The Modifier class should be used to decode the modifiers.

See Also:
Modifier
 o getName
public java.lang.String getName()
Returns the name of this constructor, as a string. This is always the same as the name of the constructor's declaring class.

 o getParameterTypes
public java.lang.Class[] getParameterTypes()
Returns an array of Class objects that represent the formal parameter types, in declaration order, of the constructor represented by this Constructor object. Returns an array of length 0 if the underlying constructor takes no parameters.

 o hashCode
public int hashCode()
Returns a hashcode for this Constructor. The hashcode is the same as the hashcode for the underlying constructor's declaring class name.

Overrides:
hashCode in class Object
 o newInstance
public native java.lang.Object newInstance(Object[] initargs) throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException
Uses the constructor represented by this Constructor object to create and initialize a new instance of the constructor's declaring class, with the specified initialization parameters. Individual parameters are automatically unwrapped to match primitive formal parameters, and both primitive and reference parameters are subject to widening conversions as necessary. Returns the newly created and initialized object.

Creation proceeds with the following steps, in order:

If the class that declares the underlying constructor represents an abstract class, the creation throws an InstantiationException.

If this Constructor object enforces Java language access control and the underlying constructor is inaccessible, the creation throws an IllegalAccessException.

If the number of actual parameters supplied via initargs is different from the number of formal parameters required by the underlying constructor, the creation throws an IllegalArgumentException.

A new instance of the constructor's declaring class is created, and its fields are initialized to their default initial values.

For each actual parameter in the supplied initargs array:

If the corresponding formal parameter has a primitive type, an unwrapping conversion is attempted to convert the object value to a value of the primitive type. If this attempt fails, the creation throws an IllegalArgumentException.

If, after possible unwrapping, the parameter value cannot be converted to the corresponding formal parameter type by an identity or widening conversion, the creation throws an IllegalArgumentException.

Control transfers to the underlying constructor to initialize the new instance. If the constructor completes abruptly by throwing an exception, the exception is placed in an InvocationTargetException and thrown in turn to the caller of newInstance.

If the constructor completes normally, returns the newly created and initialized instance.

Throws: IllegalAccessException
if the underlying constructor is inaccessible.
Throws: IllegalArgumentException
if the number of actual and formal parameters differ, or if an unwrapping conversion fails.
Throws: InstantiationException
if the class that declares the underlying constructor represents an abstract class.
Throws: InvocationTargetException
if the underlying constructor throws an exception.
 o toString
public java.lang.String toString()
Return a string describing this Constructor. The string is formatted as the constructor access modifiers, if any, followed by the fully-qualified name of the declaring class, followed by a parenthesized, comma-separated list of the constructor's formal parameter types. For example:
    public java.util.Hashtable(int,float)
 

The only possible modifiers for constructors are the access modifiers public, protected or private. Only one of these may appear, or none if the constructor has default (package) access.

Overrides:
toString in class Object

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