DLL for a dynamic Java program?

Question

I am currently working on a Java project where I have a dataset that I want to output in several custom formats. I have a class for each format that takes raw data and converts it accordingly. However, for starters, I use only two or three of these formats, but I want more formats to be added later without the need for a massive rebuild of the application.

My idea was to create a DLL for each of the format classes, and my application passes the data that will be converted to each of them. That way, I can later create a DLL and access my main application. (I would love to listen to any alternative ways to do this, since someone who did this in C ++ / C #, before that felt like a logical solution, but might not be applicable to Java)

My problem is that I absolutely don't know how to do this - in C ++ / C # I could write this in a few lines of code, but I'm not sure how this works with Java. At the risk of asking a terribly vague question, how can I do this?

Answers are welcome and cookies and tea will be offered. :)

Thanks in advance, M

Edit: Sorry, just add: I also don't know how to create a DLL, which should be in Java for this project, to read in the first place. Thank you. :)

Answer 1

Instead of using the DLL as such, it seems that the desired architecture is of some kind.

One of the reasons I would not recommend using a DLL if necessary is that linking Java code with native code will require the use of the Java Native Interface (JNI), which is likely to require more effort than a pure Java solution.

One relatively easy way to do this is to use the reflection capabilities of Java.

From the above information, I would probably go along the following lines:

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outputter.write(...);

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Answer 2

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Answer 3

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