Reflections IllegalArgumentException causes

Question

UPDATE - To make the question clearer.

What is the possible cause of getting a ClassCastException while calling a method via reflections?

I got the following stacktrace as a part of my application while trying to invoke a method via reflections.

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: java.lang.ClassCastException@21fea1fv
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor332.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at com..... 
    (remaining is my method stack trace)

I tried an example class and passed various arguments of different types to it, but i always get a this exception.

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: argument type mismatch
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)

UPDATE - Here is the sample code i wrote to try recreating the exception

Interface to create proxy class

package my.tests;

public interface ReflectionsInterface { 
    public abstract void doSomething();
}

This is the test class

package my.tests;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationHandler;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;

public class Reflections implements ReflectionsInterface {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Reflections reflections = new Reflections();
        ReflectionsInterface reflectionsProxy = reflections.createProxy(ReflectionsInterface.class);
        invokeMethod(reflectionsProxy, "doSomething", null);
    }

    public <T> T createProxy(Class<T> entityInterface) {
        EntityInvocationHandler eih = new EntityInvocationHandler(this);
        T cast = entityInterface.cast(Proxy.newProxyInstance(
                entityInterface.getClassLoader(), new Class[]{entityInterface}, eih));
        return cast;
    }

    public static void invokeMethod(Object obj, String methodName, Object... args) {
        Method[] methods = obj.getClass().getMethods();
        try {
            for (Method method : methods) {
                if (method.getName().equals(methodName)) {
                    method.invoke(obj, args);
                    break;
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public void doSomething() {
        System.out.println("woo");
    }

    private final static class EntityInvocationHandler implements InvocationHandler,
            ReflectionsInterface {

        private Reflections reflectionObj;

        public EntityInvocationHandler(Reflections reflectionObj) {
            super();
            this.reflectionObj = reflectionObj;
        }

        @Override
        public void doSomething() {
            reflectionObj.doSomething();
        }

        @Override
        public Object invoke(Object proxy, Method method, Object[] args) throws Throwable {
            Object invoke = method.invoke(this, args);
            return invoke;
        }

    }
}

I am unable to understand the when i would get argument type mismatch and the ClassCastException would be caused. I am not able to re-create the exception and would like to know why it comes. Any working code that re-created it, or a source code reference throwing this exception in this case will be good

I have gone through the Method.class javadocs and source code, i am not able to figure out why this error comes.

Answer 1

I had recreated the ClassCastException by modifing your example code: Invoke invokeMethod with a correct argument 10000 times, and then invoke it with wrong a wrong one.

The main method in the Reflections class

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Reflections reflections = new Reflections();
    ReflectionsInterface reflectionsProxy = reflections
            .createProxy(ReflectionsInterface.class);
    for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
        invokeMethod(reflectionsProxy, ReflectionsInterface.class,
                "doSomething");

    invokeMethod(new Object(), ReflectionsInterface.class, "doSomething");
}

The invokeMethod method in the Reflections class

public static void invokeMethod(Object obj, Class<?> clazz,
        String methodName, Object... args) {
    Method[] methods = clazz.getMethods();
    try {
        for (Method method : methods) {
            if (method.getName().equals(methodName)) {
                method.invoke(obj, args);
                break;
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Stack Trace:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: java.lang.ClassCastException@603a3e21
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor1.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.twbbs.pccprogram.Reflections.invokeMethod(Reflections.java:33)
    at org.twbbs.pccprogram.Reflections.main(Reflections.java:16)

My explanation of the ClassCastException:

When you invoke invokeMethod for the first time, JVM use a slower route, which is easier for programmers to debug (so it's slower!), so it will show a more friendly argument type mismatch message when you passes a bad argument.

When you invoke invokeMethod for a lot of times (16 times are enough in my tests), JVM generated a GeneratedMethodAccessor*** in runtime, which is faster, with less error checking. So it will show such an ugly java.lang.ClassCastException@603a3e21 message when you passes a bad argument.