ClassLoaders

In addition to simple resource access, the repository provides support for the creation of classloaders based on meta information associated with jar artifacts. The repoistory uses the MIME type x-meta to locate suplimentary information about an artifact such as dependencies, classloader structures, and other related information.

The following code fragment demonstrates the creation of an classloader chain involving some 30 dependent jar file spead across a three-tier classloader chain.

Artifact artifact = 
    Artifact.createArtifact( 
      "merlin", "merlin-kernel-impl", "3.2.2" );

ClassLoader classloader = 
    m_repository.getClassLoader( artifact );