Is it possible to have the System ClassLoader load .class files specified at run time?

Question

I am writing a static analysis tool for an assignment, it analyses Java bytecode using the ASM library. One of the parts of ASM that we use requires (or at least, appears to

Answer 1

Yes, you can use URLClassLoader

I have a test where I do load the class at runtime. This class is not in the classpath (nor even exist when the test is run for that matter ), later is it loaded and works great.

Here's the code.

void testHello() throws MalformedURLException, ClassNotFoundException {
    URL[] url = {
            new URL("file:/home/oreyes/testwork/")
    };

    try {
        new URLClassLoader(url).loadClass("Hello");
        throw new AssertionError("Should've thrown ClassNotFoundException");
    } catch ( ClassNotFoundException cnfe ){}


    c.process();// create the .class file 

    new URLClassLoader(url).loadClass("Hello");

    // it works!!
}

Taken from this question.