Method Detail

• instanceName

  java.lang.String instanceName​()

  The name of instanceClass(). Should be the same as instanceClass().getName() but may be able to avoid actually loading the class.

  Generally this method should not be used.

  Returns:

  the instance class name

• instanceClass

  java.lang.Class<?> instanceClass​()
                            throws java.io.IOException,
                                   java.lang.ClassNotFoundException

  The type that the instance is expected to be assignable to. Can be used to test whether the instance is of an appropriate class without actually creating it.

  Generally this method should not be used. To test whether the instance will be assignable to some type, use InstanceCookie.Of.instanceOf(java.lang.Class<?>) instead. To actually load instances, use instanceCreate(); if your objects are not naturally singletons (e.g. public no-argument constructor), the instances should rather be of some kind of factory you define.

  Returns:

  the type (or perhaps some interesting supertype) of the instance

  Throws:

  java.io.IOException - if metadata about the instance could not be read, etc.

  java.lang.ClassNotFoundException - if the instance type could not be loaded

• instanceCreate

  java.lang.Object instanceCreate​()
                           throws java.io.IOException,
                                  java.lang.ClassNotFoundException

  Create or obtain an instance. For example InstanceDataObject (one of the most often used implementations of InstanceCookie) caches previously returned instances.

  Returns:

  an object assignable to instanceClass()

  Throws:

  java.io.IOException - for the same reasons as instanceClass(), or an object could not be deserialized, etc.

  java.lang.ClassNotFoundException - for the same reasons as instanceClass()