java - How to explicitly invoke default method from a dynamic Proxy?

Question

Since Java 8 interfaces could have default methods. I know how to invoke the method explicitly from the implementing method, i.e. (see Explicitly calling a default method in Java)

But how do I explicitly invoke the default method using reflection for example on a proxy?

Example:

interface ExampleMixin {

  String getText();

  default void printInfo(){
    System.out.println(getText());
  }
}

class Example {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {

    Object target = new Object();

    Map<String, BiFunction<Object, Object[], Object>> behavior = new HashMap<>();

    ExampleMixin dynamic =
            (ExampleMixin) Proxy.newProxyInstance(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(),new Class[]{ExampleMixin.class}, (Object proxy, Method method, Object[] arguments) -> {

                //custom mixin behavior
                if(behavior.containsKey(method.getName())) {
                    return behavior.get(method.getName()).apply(target, arguments);
                //default mixin behavior
                } else if (method.isDefault()) {
                    //this block throws java.lang.IllegalAccessException: no private access for invokespecial
                    return MethodHandles.lookup()
                                        .in(method.getDeclaringClass())
                                        .unreflectSpecial(method, method.getDeclaringClass())
                                        .bindTo(target)
                                        .invokeWithArguments();
                //no mixin behavior
                } else if (ExampleMixin.class == method.getDeclaringClass()) {
                    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(method.getName() + " is not supported");
                //base class behavior
                } else{
                    return method.invoke(target, arguments);
                }
            });

    //define behavior for abstract method getText()
    behavior.put("getText", (o, a) -> o.toString() + " myText");

    System.out.println(dynamic.getClass());
    System.out.println(dynamic.toString());
    System.out.println(dynamic.getText());

    //print info should by default implementation
    dynamic.printInfo();
  }
}

---

Edit: I know a similar question has been asked in How do I invoke Java 8 default methods refletively, but this has not solved my problem for two reasons:

• the problem described in that question aimed on how to invoked it via reflection in general - so no distinction between default and overriden method was made - and this is simple, you only need an instance.
• one of the answers - using method handles - does only work with nasty hack (imho) like changing access modifiers to fields of the lookup class, which is the same category of "solutions" like this: Change private static final field using Java reflection: it's good to know it's possible, but I wouldn't use it in production - I'm looking for an "official" way to do it.

The IllegalAccessException is thrown in unreflectSpecial

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalAccessException: no private access for invokespecial: interface example.ExampleMixin, from example.ExampleMixin/package
at java.lang.invoke.MemberName.makeAccessException(MemberName.java:852)
at java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles$Lookup.checkSpecialCaller(MethodHandles.java:1568)
at java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles$Lookup.unreflectSpecial(MethodHandles.java:1227)
at example.Example.lambda$main$0(Example.java:30)
at example.Example$$Lambda$1/1342443276.invoke(Unknown Source)

Answer 1

I've been troubled by similar issues as well when using MethodHandle.Lookup in JDK 8 - 10, which behave differently. I've blogged about the correct solution here in detail.

This approach works in Java 8

In Java 8, the ideal approach uses a hack that accesses a package-private constructor from Lookup:

import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.Lookup;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;

interface Duck {
    default void quack() {
        System.out.println("Quack");
    }
}

public class ProxyDemo {
    public static void main(String[] a) {
        Duck duck = (Duck) Proxy.newProxyInstance(
            Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(),
            new Class[] { Duck.class },
            (proxy, method, args) -> {
                Constructor<Lookup> constructor = Lookup.class
                    .getDeclaredConstructor(Class.class);
                constructor.setAccessible(true);
                constructor.newInstance(Duck.class)
                    .in(Duck.class)
                    .unreflectSpecial(method, Duck.class)
                    .bindTo(proxy)
                    .invokeWithArguments(args);
                return null;
            }
        );

        duck.quack();
    }
}

This is the only approach that works with both private-accessible and private-inaccessible interfaces. However, the above approach does illegal reflective access to JDK internals, which will no longer work in a future JDK version, or if --illegal-access=deny is specified on the JVM.

This approach works on Java 9 and 10, but not 8

import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;
import java.lang.invoke.MethodType;
import java.lang.reflect.Proxy;

interface Duck {
    default void quack() {
        System.out.println("Quack");
    }
}

public class ProxyDemo {
    public static void main(String[] a) {
        Duck duck = (Duck) Proxy.newProxyInstance(
            Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(),
            new Class[] { Duck.class },
            (proxy, method, args) -> {
                MethodHandles.lookup()
                    .findSpecial( 
                         Duck.class, 
                         "quack",  
                         MethodType.methodType(void.class, new Class[0]),  
                         Duck.class)
                    .bindTo(proxy)
                    .invokeWithArguments(args);
                return null;
            }
        );

        duck.quack();
    }
}

Solution

Simply implement both of the above solutions and check if your code is running on JDK 8 or on a later JDK and you'll be fine. Until you're not :)