Class.forname

[Leandro Oliveira]

I tried to understand this by my own... I couldn't. then I tried:
JFrame frame=(JFrame)Class.forName("javax.swing.JFrame");
then it did not work;
after I tried:
JFrame frame=(JFrame)Class.forName("javax.swing.JFrame").newInstance();
after that I noticed that it was the same as
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
funny!!! but what does Class.forName do???
Sorry for the english... I'm from another country and I think my english is getting worse....

[Bear Bibeault]

Let's say that, as an example, you read in the name of a class from a configuration file. Your program has no way of knowing what the class name is.
Through the use of Class.forName() you can create an instance of the class.
A good example of this is JSP custom tags. The class implementing the tag is named in the TLD file (an XML descriptor of the tag library), and the JSP container creates instances of the class as needed.
hth,
bear
[ November 07, 2002: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]

[Jim Yingst]

I'm not sure if all your questions were answered. Just in case...
JFrame frame=(JFrame)Class.forName("javax.swing.JFrame");
This didn't compile, because Class.forName() returns a Class object, not a JFrame object. But you can create a JFrame instance from the Class using the newInstance() method of class, as you did in your second attempt.
[ November 07, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[Leandro Oliveira]

thanks... I think that I did not understand because many books just order you to use class.forName to load a driver... they do not say what it does!!!