Is it possible to dynamically load a library at runtime from an Android application?

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Is there any way to make an Android application to download and use a Java library at runtime?

Here is an example:

Imagine that the application needs to make some calculations depending on the input values. The application asks for these input values and then checks if the required Classes or Methods are available.

If not, it connects to a server, downloads the needed library, and loads it at runtime to calls the required methods using reflection techniques. The implementation could change depending on various criteria such as the user who is downloading the library.

android-library classloader dalvik reflection android
7 Answers

I think @Shlublu answer is correct but i just want to highlight some key points.

  1. We can load any classes from external jar and apk file.
  2. In Any way, we can load Activity from external jar but we can not start it because of the context concept.

  3. To load the UI from external jar we can use fragment. Create the instance of the fragment and embedded it in the Activity. But make sure fragment creates the UI dynamically as given below.

    public class MyFragment extends Fragment {
@Nullable
@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, @Nullable ViewGroup 
  container, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState)
 {
  super.onCreateView(inflater, container, savedInstanceState);

  LinearLayout layout = new LinearLayout(getActivity());
  layout.setLayoutParams(new 
 LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LinearLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        LinearLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
Button button = new Button(getActivity());
button.setText("Invoke host method");
layout.addView(button, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);

return layout;
 }
}
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