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495 lines
16 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
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<title>Scripting Java</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Scripting Java</h1>
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<p>This paper shows how to use Rhino to reach beyond JavaScript into
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Java <a href="#ref1">[1]</a>. Scripting Java has many uses. It allows
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us to write powerful scripts quickly by making use of the many Java
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libraries available. We can test Java classes by writing scripts. We
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can also aid our Java development by using scripting for <em>exploratory
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programming</em>. Exploratory programming is the process of
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learning about what a library or API can do by writing quick programs
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that use it. As we will see, scripting makes this process easier.</p>
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<p>Note that the ECMA standard doesn't cover communication with
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Java (or with any external object system for that matter). All the
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functionality covered in this chapter should thus be considered an
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extension.</p>
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<h2>Accessing Java packages and classes</h2>
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<p>Every piece of Java code is part of a class. Every Java
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class is part of a package. In JavaScript, however, scripts exist outside of
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any package hierarchy. How then, do we access classes in Java packages?</p>
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<p>Rhino defines a top-level variable named <code>Packages</code>. The
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properties of the <code>Packages</code>
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variable are all the top-level Java packages, such as <code>java</code> and
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<code>com</code>. For example,
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we can access the value of the <code>java</code>package:</p>
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<pre>
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js> Packages.java
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[JavaPackage java]
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</pre>
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<p>As a handy shortcut, Rhino defines a top-level variable <code>java</code>
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that is equivalent to <code>Packages.java</code>.
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So the previous example could be even shorter:</p>
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<pre>
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js> java
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[JavaPackage java]
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</pre>
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<p>We can access Java classes simply by stepping down the
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package hierarchy:</p>
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<pre>
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js> java.io.File
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[JavaClass java.io.File]
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</pre>
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<p>If your scripts access a lot of different Java classes it
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can get awkward to use the full package name of the class every time. Rhino
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provides a top-level function <code>importPackage</code> that serves the same
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purpose as Java's <code>import</code> declaration. For example, we could
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import all of the classes in the <code>java.io</code>package and
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access class <code>java.io.File</code>
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using just the name <code>File</code>:</p>
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<pre>
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js> importPackage(java.io)
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js> File
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[JavaClass java.io.File]
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</pre>
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<p>Here <code>importPackage(java.io)</code> makes all the classes in
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the <code>java.io</code> package<67>(such as <code>File</code>)
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available at the top level. It's equivalent in effect to the Java
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declaration <code>import java.io.*;</code>.</p>
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<p>It's important to note that Java imports <code>java.lang.*</code>
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implicitly, while Rhino does not. The reason is that JavaScript has
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its own top-level objects <code>Boolean</code>, <code>Math</code>,
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<code>Number</code>, <code>Object</code>, and <code>String</code> that
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are different from the classes by those names defined in the
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<code>java.lang</code> package. Because of this conflict, it's a good
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idea not to use <code>importPackage</code> on the
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<code>java.lang</code> package.</p>
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<p>One thing to be careful of is Rhino's handling of errors in
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specifying Java package or class names. If <code>java.MyClass</code>
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is accessed, Rhino attempts to load a class named
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<code>java.MyClass</code>. If that load fails, it assumes that
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<code>java.MyClass</code> is a package name, and no error is
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reported:</p>
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<pre>
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js> java.MyClass
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[JavaPackage java.MyClass]
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</pre>
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<p>Only if you attempt to use this object as a class will an
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error be reported.</p>
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<h2>Working with Java objects</h2>
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<p>Now that we can access Java classes, the next logical step is to
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create an object. This works just as in Java, with the use of the
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<code>new</code> operator:</p>
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<pre>
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js> new java.util.Date()
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Thu Jan 24 16:18:17 EST 2002
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</pre>
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<p>If we store the new object in a JavaScript variable, we can then
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call methods on it:</p>
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<pre>
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js> f = new java.io.File("test.txt")
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test.txt
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js> f.exists()
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true
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js> f.getName()
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test.txt
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</pre>
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<p>Static methods and fields can be accessed from the class object
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itself:</p>
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<pre>
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js> java.lang.Math.PI
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3.141592653589793
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js> java.lang.Math.cos(0)
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1
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</pre>
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<p>In JavaScript, unlike Java, the method by itself is an
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object and can be evaluated as well as being called. If we just view the method
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object by itself we can see the various overloaded forms of the method:</p>
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<pre>
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js> f.listFiles
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function listFiles() {/*
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java.io.File[] listFiles()
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java.io.File[] listFiles(java.io.FilenameFilter)
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java.io.File[] listFiles(java.io.FileFilter)
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*/}
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</pre>
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<p>This output shows that the <code>File</code> class defines three
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overloaded methods <code>listFiles</code>: one that takes no
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arguments, another with a <code>FilenameFilter</code> argument, and a
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third with a <code>FileFilter</code> argument. All the methods return
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an array of <code>File</code> objects. Being able to view the
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parameters and return type of Java methods is particularly useful in
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exploratory programming where we might be investigating a method and
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are unsure of the parameter or return types. </p>
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<p>Another useful feature for exploratory programming is the ability
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to see all the methods and fields defined for an object. Using the
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JavaScript <code>for..in</code> construct, we can print out all these
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values:</p>
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<pre>
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js> for (i in f) { print(i) }
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exists
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parentFile
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mkdir
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toString
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wait
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<em>[44 others]</em>
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</pre>
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<p>Note that not only the methods of the <code>File</code> class are
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listed, but also the methods inherited from the base class
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<code>java.lang.Object</code> (like <code>wait</code>). This makes it
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easier to work with objects in deeply nested inheritance hierarchies
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since you can see all the methods that are available for that
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object.</p>
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<p>Rhino provides another convenience by allowing properties of
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JavaBeans to be accessed directly by their property names. A JavaBean
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property <code>foo</code> is defined by the methods
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<code>getFoo</code> and <code>setFoo</code>. Additionally, a boolean
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property of the same name can be defined by an <code>isFoo</code>
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method <a href="#ref2">[2]</a>. For example, the following code
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actually calls the <code>File</code> object's <code>getName</code> and
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<code>isDirectory</code> methods.</p>
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<pre>
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js> f.name
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test.txt
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js> f.directory
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false
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</pre>
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<h2>Calling overloaded methods</h2>
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<p>The process of choosing a method to call based upon the types of
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the arguments is called <em>overload resolution</em>. In Java,
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overload resolution is performed at compile time, while in Rhino it
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occurs at runtime. This difference is inevitable given JavaScript's
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use of dynamic typing as was discussed in Chapter 2: since the type of
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a variable is not known until runtime, only then can overload
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resolution occur.</p>
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<p>As an example, consider the following Java class that defines a
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number of overloaded methods and calls them.</p>
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<pre>
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public class Overload {
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public String f(Object o) { return "f(Object)"; }
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public String f(String s) { return "f(String)"; }
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public String f(int i) { return "f(int)"; }
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public String g(String s, int i) { return "g(String,int)"; }
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public String g(int i, String s) { return "g(int,String)"; }
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public static void main(String[] args) {
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Overload o = new Overload();
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Object[] a = new Object[] { new Integer(3), "hi", Overload.class };
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for (int i = 0; i != a.length; ++i)
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System.out.println(o.f(a[i]));
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}
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}
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</pre>
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<p>When we compile and execute the program, it produces the output</p>
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<pre>
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f(Object)
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f(Object)
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f(Object)
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</pre>
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<p>However, if we write a similar script</p>
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<pre>
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var o = new Packages.Overload();
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var a = [ 3, "hi", Packages.Overload ];
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for (var i = 0; i != a.length; ++i)
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print(o.f(a[i]));
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</pre>
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<p>and execute it, we get the output</p>
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<pre>
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f(int)
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f(String)
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f(Object)
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</pre>
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<p>Because Rhino selects an overloaded method at runtime, it calls the
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more specific type that matches the argument. Meanwhile Java selects
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the overloaded method purely on the type of the argument at compile
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time. </p>
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<p>Although this has the benefit of selecting a method that may be a
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better match for each call, it does have an impact on performance
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since more work is done at each call. In practice this performance
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cost hasn't been noticeable in real applications.</p>
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<p>Because overload resolution occurs at runtime, it can fail at
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runtime. For example, if we call <code>Overload</code>'s method
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<code>g</code> with two integers we get an error because neither form
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of the method is closer to the argument types than the other:</p>
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<pre>
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js> o.g(3,4)
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js:"<stdin>", line 2: The choice of Java method Overload.g
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matching JavaScript argument types (number,number) is ambiguous;
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candidate methods are:
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class java.lang.String g(java.lang.String,int)
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class java.lang.String g(int,java.lang.String)
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</pre>
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<p>A more precise definition of overloading semantics can be
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found at <a
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href="http://www.mozilla.org/js/liveconnect/lc3_method_overloading.html">http://www.mozilla.org/js/liveconnect/lc3_method_overloading.html</a>.</p>
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<h2>Implementing Java interfaces</h2>
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<p>Now that we can access Java classes, create Java objects, and
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access fields, methods, and properties of those objects, we have a
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great deal of power at our fingertips. However, there are a few
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instances where that is not enough: many APIs in Java work by
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providing interfaces that clients must implement. One example of this
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is the <code>Thread</code> class: its constructor takes a
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<code>Runnable</code> that contains a single method <code>run</code>
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that will be called when the new thread is started. </p>
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<p>To address this need, Rhino provides the ability to create new Java
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objects that implement interfaces. First we must define a JavaScript
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object with function properties whose names match the methods required
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by the Java interface. To implement a <code>Runnable</code>, we need
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only define a single method <code>run</code> with no parameters. If
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you remember from Chapter 3, it is possible to define a JavaScript
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object with the <code>{propertyName: value}</code> notation. We can
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use that syntax here in combination with a function expression to
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define a JavaScript object with a <code>run</code> method:</p>
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<pre>
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js> obj = { run: function () { print("\nrunning"); } }
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[object Object]
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js> obj.run()
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running
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</pre>
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<p>Now we can create an object implementing the <code>Runnable</code> interface
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by constructing a <code>Runnable</code>:</p>
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<pre>
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js> r = new java.lang.Runnable(obj);
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[object JavaObject]
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</pre>
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<p>In Java it is not possible to use the <code>new</code> operator on
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an interface because there is no implementation available. Here Rhino
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gets the implementation from the JavaScript object
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<code>obj</code>. Now that we have an object implementing
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<code>Runnable</code>, we can create a <code>Thread</code> and run
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it. The function we defined for <code>run </code>will be called on a
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new thread.</p>
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<pre>
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js> t = new java.lang.Thread(r)
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Thread[Thread-2,5,main]
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js> t.start()
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js>
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running
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</pre>
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<p>The final <code>js</code> prompt and the output from the new thread
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may appear in either order, depending on thread scheduling.</p>
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<p>Behind the scenes, Rhino generates the bytecode for a new Java
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class that implements <code>Runnable</code> and forwards all calls to
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its <code>run</code> method over to an associated JavaScript
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object. The object that implements this class is called a <em>Java
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adapter</em>. Because the forwarding to JavaScript occurs at runtime,
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it is possible to delay defining the methods implementing an interface
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until they are called. While omitting a required method is bad
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practice for programming in the large, it's useful for small scripts
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and for exploratory programming.</p>
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<h2>The <code>JavaAdapter</code> constructor</h2>
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<p>In the previous section we created Java adapters using the
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<code>new</code> operator with Java interfaces. This approach has its
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limitations: it's not possible to implement multiple interfaces, nor
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can we extend non-abstract classes. For these reasons there is a
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<code>JavaAdapter</code> constructor. </p>
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<p>The syntax of the <code>JavaAdapter</code> constructor is</p>
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<pre>
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new JavaAdapter(javaIntfOrClass, [javaIntf, ..., javaIntf,] javascriptObject)
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</pre>
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<p>Here <code>javaIntfOrClass</code> is an interface to implement or a
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class to extend and <code>javaIntf</code> are aditional interfaces to
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implement. The <code>javascriptObject</code> is the JavaScript object
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containing the methods that will be called from the Java adapter. </p>
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<p>In practice there's little need to call the
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<code>JavaAdapter</code> constructor directly. Most of the time the
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previous syntaxes using the <code>new</code> operator will be
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sufficient.</p>
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<h2>JavaScript functions as Java interfaces</h2>
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<p>Often we need to implement an interface with only one method, like in the
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previous <code>Runnable</code> example or when providing various event
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listener implementations. To facilitate this Rhino allows to pass
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JavaScript function when such interface is expected. The
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function is called as the implementation of interface method.</p>
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<p>Here is the simplified <code>Runnable</code> example:</p>
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<pre>
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js> t = java.lang.Thread(function () { print("\nrunning"); });
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Thread[Thread-0,5,main]
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js> t.start()
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js>
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running
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</pre>
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Rhino also allows to use JavaScript function as implementation of Java
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interface with more then method if all the methods has the same
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signature. When calling the function, Rhino passes method's name as
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the additional argument. Function can
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use it to distinguish on behalf of which method it was called:
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<pre>
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js> var frame = new Packages.javax.swing.JFrame();
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js> frame.addWindowListener(function(event, methodName) {
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if (methodName == "windowClosing") {
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print("Calling System.exit()..."); java.lang.System.exit(0);
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}
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});
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js> frame.setSize(100, 100);
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js> frame.visible = true;
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true
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js> Calling System.exit()...
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</pre>
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<h2>Creating Java arrays</h2>
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<p>Rhino provides no special syntax for creating Java arrays. You
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must use the <code>java.lang.reflect.Array</code> class for this
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purpose. To create an array of five Java strings you would make the
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following call:</p>
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<pre>
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js> a = java.lang.reflect.Array.newInstance(java.lang.String, 5);
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[Ljava.lang.String;@7ffe01
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</pre>
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<p>To create an array of primitive types, we must use the special TYPE
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field defined in the associated object class in the
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<code>java.lang</code> package. For example, to create an array of
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bytes, we must use the special field
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<code>java.lang.Byte.TYPE</code>:</p>
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<pre>
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js> a = java.lang.reflect.Array.newInstance(java.lang.Character.TYPE, 2);
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[C@7a84e4
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</pre>
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<p>The resulting value can then be used anywhere a Java array
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of that type is allowed.</p>
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<pre>
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js> a[0] = 104
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104
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js> a[1] = 105
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105
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js> new java.lang.String(a)
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hi
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</pre>
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<h2>Java strings and JavaScript strings</h2>
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<p>It's important to keep in mind that Java strings and JavaScript
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strings are <strong>not</strong> the same. Java strings are instances
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of the type <code>java.lang.String</code> and have all the methods
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defined by that class. JavaScript strings have methods defined by
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<code>String.prototype</code>. The most common stumbling block is
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<code>length</code>, which is a method of Java strings and a dynamic
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property of JavaScript strings:</p>
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<pre>
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js> javaString = new java.lang.String("Java")
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Java
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js> jsString = "JavaScript"
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JavaScript
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js> javaString.length()
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4
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js> jsString.length
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10
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</pre>
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<p>Rhino provides some help in reducing the differences between the
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two types. First, you can pass a JavaScript string to a Java method
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that requires a Java string and Rhino will perform the conversion. We
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actually saw this feature in action on the call to the
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<code>java.lang.String</code> constructor in the preceding
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example.</p>
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<p>Rhino also makes the JavaScript methods available to Java strings
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if the java.lang.String class doesn't already define them. For
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example:</p>
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<pre>
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js> javaString.match(/a.*/)
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ava
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</pre>
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<hr align=left size=1 width="33%">
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<p><a name="ref1">[1]</a>
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The ability to call Java from JavaScript was first implemented as part
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of a Netscape browser technology called
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<em>LiveConnect</em>. However, since that technology also
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encompassed communication with browser plugins, and since the way of
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calling JavaScript from Java in Rhino is entirely different, that term
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won't be used in this paper.</p>
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<p><a name="ref2">[2]</a>
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For more information on JavaBeans, see <em>Developing Java Beans</em>
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by Robert Englander.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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