Enabling and Disabling Assertions Programmatically

Most programmers will not need to use the following methods. They are provided for those writing interpreters or other execution environments.

• Setting the Default Assertion Status for a Class Loader

• Setting the Assertion Status for a Package and its Subpackages

• Setting the Assertion Status for a Class and its Nested Classes

• Resetting to the Class Loader Default Assertion Status

• See also: Design FAQ

Setting the Default Assertion Status for a Class Loader

Each class loader maintains a default assertion status, a boolean value that determines whether assertions are, by default, enabled or disabled in new classes that are subsequently initialized by the class loader. A newly created class loader's default assertion status is false (disabled). It can be changed at any time by invoking a new method in class ClassLoader:

public void setDefaultAssertionStatus(boolean enabled)

If, at the time that a class is loaded, its class loader has been given specific instructions regarding the assertion status of the class's package name or its class name (via either of the two new methods in ClassLoader described below), those instructions take precedence over the class loader's default assertion status. Otherwise, the class's assertions are enabled or disabled as specified by its class loader's default assertion status.

Setting the Assertion Status for a Package and its Subpackages

The following method allows the invoker to set a per-package default assertion status. Note that a per-package default actually applies to a package and any subpackages.

public void setPackageAssertionStatus(String packageName, boolean enabled);

Setting the Assertion Status for a Class and its Nested Classes

The following method is used to set assertion status on a per-class basis:

public void setClassAssertionStatus(string className, boolean enabled);

Resetting to the Class Loader Default Assertion Status

The following method clears any assertion status settings associated with a class loader:

public void clearAssertStatus();