Access an object instance with JVMTI

[titanandrews]

Hi All,

Using JVMTI, is there any way to get access to an object instance, see it's properties, call it's methods, etc. It looks like all the iterate callback functions just give information like, tags, object size, etc., but there seems to be no way to gain access to the object instance itself. Am I missing something?

many thanks!

-B

 

[Diancecht]

IMHO, JVMTI is a JVM inspector, ie, a way to know what's going on inside, not to modify its behaviour.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[titanandrews]

What I found out is that you have to have certain "capabilities" set ( or permissions ) and those cannot be set in the live phase. They must be set in the load phase. So basically you have to start your agent with the target VM, you can't just connect to it get all of the JVMTI features. It's a security feature.

 

[Diancecht]

To be sincere, I'm glad that's the way. I wouldn't be confortable if there's a way to act over an existing application at runtime.

Cheers,
Dian