javax.tools
interface JavaFileManager

All Superinterfaces:

OptionChecker

All Known Subinterfaces:

StandardJavaFileManager

All Known Implementing Classes:

ForwardingJavaFileManager

public interface JavaFileManager
extends OptionChecker

File manager for tools operating on Java™ programming language source and class files. In this context, file means an abstraction of regular files and other sources of data.

When constructing new JavaFileObjects, the file manager must determine where to create them. For example, if a file manager manages regular files on a file system, it would most likely have a current/working directory to use as default location when creating or finding files. A number of hints can be provided to a file manager as to where to create files. Any file manager might choose to ignore these hints.

Some methods in this interface use class names. Such class names must be given in the Java Virtual Machine internal form of fully qualified class and interface names. For convenience '.' and '/' are interchangeable. The internal form is defined in chapter four of the Java Virtual Machine Specification.

Discussion: this means that the names "java/lang.package-info", "java/lang/package-info", "java.lang.package-info", are valid and equivalent. Compare to binary name as defined in the Java Language Specification (JLS) section 13.1 "The Form of a Binary".

The case of names is significant. All names should be treated as case-sensitive. For example, some file systems have case-insensitive, case-aware file names. File objects representing such files should take care to preserve case by using {@link java.io.File#getCanonicalFile} or similar means. If the system is not case-aware, file objects must use other means to preserve case.

Relative names: some methods in this interface use relative names. A relative name is a non-null, non-empty sequence of path segments separated by '/'. '.' or '..' are invalid path segments. A valid relative name must match the "path-rootless" rule of RFC 3986, section 3.3. Informally, this should be true:

  URI.{@linkplain java.net.URI#create create}(relativeName).{@linkplain java.net.URI#normalize normalize}().{@linkplain java.net.URI#getPath getPath}().equals(relativeName)

All methods in this interface might throw a SecurityException.

An object of this interface is not required to support multi-threaded access, that is, be synchronized. However, it must support concurrent access to different file objects created by this object.

Implementation note: a consequence of this requirement is that a trivial implementation of output to a {@linkplain java.util.jar.JarOutputStream} is not a sufficient implementation. That is, rather than creating a JavaFileObject that returns the JarOutputStream directly, the contents must be cached until closed and then written to the JarOutputStream.

Unless explicitly allowed, all methods in this interface might throw a NullPointerException if given a {@code null} argument.

close

public void close()
           throws IOException

Releases any resources opened by this file manager directly or indirectly. This might render this file manager useless and the effect of subsequent calls to methods on this object or any objects obtained through this object is undefined unless explicitly allowed. However, closing a file manager which has already been closed has no effect.

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred

flush

public void flush()
           throws IOException

Flushes any resources opened for output by this file manager directly or indirectly. Flushing a closed file manager has no effect.

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred

getClassLoader

public ClassLoader getClassLoader(JavaFileManager.Location location)

Gets a class loader for loading plug-ins from the given location. For example, to load annotation processors, a compiler will request a class loader for the {@link StandardLocation#ANNOTATION_PROCESSOR_PATH ANNOTATION_PROCESSOR_PATH} location.

Parameters:

location - a location

Returns:

a class loader for the given location; or {@code null} if loading plug-ins from the given location is disabled or if the location is not known

getFileForInput

public FileObject getFileForInput(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                                  String packageName,
                                  String relativeName)
                           throws IOException

Gets a {@linkplain FileObject file object} for input representing the specified relative name in the specified package in the given location.

If the returned object represents a {@linkplain JavaFileObject.Kind#SOURCE source} or {@linkplain JavaFileObject.Kind#CLASS class} file, it must be an instance of {@link JavaFileObject}.

Informally, the file object returned by this method is located in the concatenation of the location, package name, and relative name. For example, to locate the properties file "resources/compiler.properties" in the package "com.sun.tools.javac" in the {@linkplain StandardLocation#SOURCE_PATH SOURCE_PATH} location, this method might be called like so:

getFileForInput(SOURCE_PATH, "com.sun.tools.javac", "resources/compiler.properties");

If the call was executed on Windows, with SOURCE_PATH set to "C:\Documents and Settings\UncleBob\src\share\classes", a valid result would be a file object representing the file "C:\Documents and Settings\UncleBob\src\share\classes\com\sun\tools\javac\resources\compiler.properties".

Parameters:

location - a location

packageName - a package name

relativeName - a relative name

Returns:

a file object, might return {@code null} if the file does not exist

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred, or if {@link #close} has been called and this file manager cannot be reopened

getFileForOutput

public FileObject getFileForOutput(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                                   String packageName,
                                   String relativeName,
                                   FileObject sibling)
                            throws IOException

Gets a {@linkplain FileObject file object} for output representing the specified relative name in the specified package in the given location.

Optionally, this file manager might consider the sibling as a hint for where to place the output. The exact semantics of this hint is unspecified. Sun's compiler, javac, for example, will place class files in the same directories as originating source files unless a class file output directory is provided. To facilitate this behavior, javac might provide the originating source file as sibling when calling this method.

If the returned object represents a {@linkplain JavaFileObject.Kind#SOURCE source} or {@linkplain JavaFileObject.Kind#CLASS class} file, it must be an instance of {@link JavaFileObject}.

Informally, the file object returned by this method is located in the concatenation of the location, package name, and relative name or next to the sibling argument. See {@link #getFileForInput getFileForInput} for an example.

Parameters:

location - a location

packageName - a package name

relativeName - a relative name

sibling - a file object to be used as hint for placement; might be {@code null}

Returns:

a file object

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred, or if {@link #close} has been called and this file manager cannot be reopened

getJavaFileForInput

public JavaFileObject getJavaFileForInput(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                                          String className,
                                          JavaFileObject.Kind kind)
                                   throws IOException

Gets a {@linkplain JavaFileObject file object} for input representing the specified class of the specified kind in the given location.

Parameters:

location - a location

className - the name of a class

kind - the kind of file, must be one of {@link JavaFileObject.Kind#SOURCE SOURCE} or {@link JavaFileObject.Kind#CLASS CLASS}

Returns:

a file object, might return {@code null} if the file does not exist

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred, or if {@link #close} has been called and this file manager cannot be reopened

getJavaFileForOutput

public JavaFileObject getJavaFileForOutput(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                                           String className,
                                           JavaFileObject.Kind kind,
                                           FileObject sibling)
                                    throws IOException

Gets a {@linkplain JavaFileObject file object} for output representing the specified class of the specified kind in the given location.

Optionally, this file manager might consider the sibling as a hint for where to place the output. The exact semantics of this hint is unspecified. Sun's compiler, javac, for example, will place class files in the same directories as originating source files unless a class file output directory is provided. To facilitate this behavior, javac might provide the originating source file as sibling when calling this method.

Parameters:

location - a location

className - the name of a class

kind - the kind of file, must be one of {@link JavaFileObject.Kind#SOURCE SOURCE} or {@link JavaFileObject.Kind#CLASS CLASS}

sibling - a file object to be used as hint for placement; might be {@code null}

Returns:

a file object for output

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred, or if {@link #close} has been called and this file manager cannot be reopened

handleOption

public boolean handleOption(String current,
                            Iterator remaining)

Handles one option. If {@code current} is an option to this file manager it will consume any arguments to that option from {@code remaining} and return true, otherwise return false.

Parameters:

current - current option

remaining - remaining options

Returns:

true if this option was handled by this file manager, false otherwise

hasLocation

public boolean hasLocation(JavaFileManager.Location location)

Determines if a location is known to this file manager.

Parameters:

location - a location

Returns:

true if the location is known

inferBinaryName

public String inferBinaryName(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                              JavaFileObject file)

Infers a binary name of a file object based on a location. The binary name returned might not be a valid JLS binary name.

Parameters:

location - a location

file - a file object

Returns:

a binary name or {@code null} the file object is not found in the given location

isSameFile

public boolean isSameFile(FileObject a,
                          FileObject b)

Compares two file objects and return true if they represent the same underlying object.

Parameters:

a - a file object

b - a file object

Returns:

true if the given file objects represent the same underlying object

list

public Iterable list(JavaFileManager.Location location,
                     String packageName,
                     Set kinds,
                     boolean recurse)
              throws IOException

Lists all file objects matching the given criteria in the given location. List file objects in "subpackages" if recurse is true.

Note: even if the given location is unknown to this file manager, it may not return {@code null}. Also, an unknown location may not cause an exception.

Parameters:

location - a location

packageName - a package name

kinds - return objects only of these kinds

recurse - if true include "subpackages"

Returns:

an Iterable of file objects matching the given criteria

Throws:

IOException - if an I/O error occurred, or if {@link #close} has been called and this file manager cannot be reopened