17/5/23, 11:31 How to use JNI as a bridge between Java and C++ | by Sumit Datta | The Startup | Medium

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How to use JNI as a bridge between Java and

C++
Sumit Datta · Follow
Published in The Startup
4 min read · Jan 28, 2020

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Many of the older software being used in Banking, Insurance and other industries have
been developed using programming languages such as C++, COBOL. Modernizing such
software — for e.g., containerizing and running them on Cloud — is a big challenge
because these are mostly procedural programs running as a monolith. At the same
time, you can’t really afford to rewrite the entire business logic in another
programming language like Java or Python or NodeJS. One path many people explore
is to use JNI to create a bridge between Java-based Spring Boots and existing C++
classes that has the business logic. While digging into the Internet, I found very few
articles on JNI with actual sample codes that went beyond Hello World. Hence this
article.

Java calling C++

Let’s say you have a Java program that calculates the volume of a given shape. However,
instead of writing your own implementation, you want to leverage an existing C++ code
that already does that. The first thing you do is declare a native function inside your
Java class with appropriate Request and Responses. Next, inside your Java class, you
load a System library (a .so file or a .dll file) that includes the implementation of this
native function in C++.

Here is the Java code.

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package com.test;
public class JavaServer {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
JavaServer client = new JavaServer();
RequestData request = new RequestData();
request.setRadius(5);
request.setShape("Hemisphere");
ResponseData response = client.calculatevolume_in_cplusplus(request);
System.out.println("Response-> " + "Volume-> " + response.getVolume()
+ " Status->" + response.getStatus());
}

static {
System.loadLibrary("nativevolumecalculator");

}
public JavaServer() {

System.out.println("JavaServer created");
}

public com.test.ResponseData
calculatevolume_in_java(com.test.RequestData request) {
System.out.println("Java -> Calculate Volume called");

ResponseData response = new ResponseData();

if (request.getShape().equals("Sphere")) {

response.setVolume((4*22*request.getRadius()*request.getRadius()*reque
st.getRadius())/(3*7));
}

else {
// Assume the shape is Hemisphere
response.setVolume((2*22*request.getRadius()*request.getRadius()*reque
st.getRadius())/(3*7));
}

response.setStatus("OK");

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return response;
}

private native com.test.ResponseData

calculatevolume_in_cplusplus(com.test.RequestData request);

Once you write the Java code, you have to generate the corresponding C++ header file
for the native function. To do so, put the following plugin configuration inside your
POM file in Maven.

<plugin>

<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>

<compilerArgs>

<arg>-h</arg>
<arg>.</arg>

</compilerArgs>
</configuration>

</plugin>

Maven will generate a C++ header file (com_test_JavaServer.h) with following content.

/* DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - it is machine generated */

#include <jni.h>
/* Header for class com_test_JavaServer */

#ifndef _Included_com_test_JavaServer
#define _Included_com_test_JavaServer
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
/*
* Class: com_test_JavaServer
* Method: calculatevolume_in_cplusplus
* Signature: (Lcom/test/RequestData;)Lcom/test/ResponseData;
*/
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17/5/23, 11:31 How to use JNI as a bridge between Java and C++ | by Sumit Datta | The Startup | Medium

JNIEXPORT jobject JNICALL

Java_com_test_JavaServer_calculatevolume_1in_1cplusplus
(JNIEnv *, jobject, jobject);

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
#endif

You will notice that the C++ API signature returns a jobject and accepts a Pointer to
JNIEnv, a reference to jobject (Java object) that called this C++ method and a reference
to jobject that contains Request data.

Here is the implementation of the function in C++

#include "com_test_JavaServer.h"
#include "string.h"
#include "stdlib.h"

JNIEXPORT jobject JNICALL JNICALL

Java_com_test_JavaServer_calculatevolume_1in_1cplusplus (JNIEnv *env,
jobject obj, jobject input) {

printf("C -> Calculate Volume called\n");

// Get the Input data

jclass requestDataClass = env->GetObjectClass(input);
jmethodID methodRequestDataGetRadius = env-
>GetMethodID(requestDataClass, "getRadius", "()I");
if (methodRequestDataGetRadius == NULL) {
printf("getRadius method does not exists, so returning
\n");
return NULL;
}
jmethodID methodRequestDataGetShape = env-
>GetMethodID(requestDataClass, "getShape", "()Ljava/lang/String;");
if (methodRequestDataGetShape == NULL) {
printf("getShape method does not exists, so returning
\n");
return NULL;
}
jint radius = (jint)env->CallObjectMethod(input,
methodRequestDataGetRadius);
printf("Radius is %d\n", radius);
jstring shape = (jstring)env->CallObjectMethod(input,
methodRequestDataGetShape);

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// Convert jstring shape into C string

jboolean iscopy;
const char * cshape = env->GetStringUTFChars(shape, &iscopy);
printf("Shape is %s\n", cshape);
// Create return object
jclass responseDataClass =
env->FindClass("com/test/ResponseData");
jobject responseData = env->AllocObject(responseDataClass);

// Get the method Ids to be set

jmethodID methodSetVolume = env-
>GetMethodID(responseDataClass, "setVolume","(D)V");
if (methodSetVolume == NULL) {
printf("setVolume method does not exists, so returning
\n");
return NULL;
}
jmethodID methodSetStatus = env-
>GetMethodID(responseDataClass, "setStatus","(Ljava/lang/String;)V");
if (methodSetStatus == NULL) {
printf("setStatus method does not exists, so returning
\n");
return NULL;
}

// Set the values in Return object

double volume = (4*22*radius*radius*radius)/(3*7);
printf ("Volume is %f\n", volume);
env->CallObjectMethod(responseData, methodSetVolume,
((4*22*radius*radius*radius)/(3*7)));
const char* cstatus = "OK";
env->CallObjectMethod(responseData, methodSetStatus, env-
>NewStringUTF(cstatus));

return responseData;
}

Here is the makefile.

#!/bin/sh
g++ -c -fPIC -fpermissive -I/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/include
-I/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/include/linux
calculate_volume_cplusplus.c -o calculate_volume_cplusplus.o

g++ -shared -fPIC -fpermissive -o libnativevolumecalculator.so

calculate_volume_cplusplus.o -lc

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Keep both jar file and the .so file in the same directory (though not necessarily always)
and run the following command

java -Djava.library.path=. -classpath ./javaserver-0.0.1-

SNAPSHOT.jar:. com.test.JavaServer

You will see the Volume calculated by the C++ code being printed by Java class.

C++ calling Java

Now, let’s make things a little more interesting. Let’s say the C++ code wants to invoke a
member function of the calling Java object (this is also called callback). As you would
have noticed, the second parameter in the C++ function passes the reference to calling
Java object.

JNIEXPORT jobject JNICALL

Java_com_test_JavaServer_calculatevolume_1in_1cplusplus
(JNIEnv *, jobject, jobject);

Put the following code inside the function implementation in C++

// Let's see what would have been the volume if it was calculated by
the Java program
printf("Let's see what would have been the volume if it was
calculated by the Java program\n");
printf("Start\n");
jclass javaServerClass = env->GetObjectClass(obj);
jmethodID methodCalculateVolumeInJava = env-
>GetMethodID(javaServerClass, "calculatevolume_in_java", "
(Lcom/test/RequestData;)Lcom/test/ResponseData;");
if (methodCalculateVolumeInJava == NULL) {
printf("calculatevolume_in_java method does not exists, so returning
\n");
return NULL;
}
responseData = env->CallObjectMethod(obj,
methodCalculateVolumeInJava, input);

jmethodID methodGetVolume = env->GetMethodID(responseDataClass,

"getVolume","()D");
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if (methodGetVolume == NULL) {
printf("getVolume method does not exists, so returning \n");
return NULL;
}
jdouble javaVolume = (jdouble)env->CallDoubleMethod(responseData,
methodGetVolume);
printf ("Java Volume %f\n", javaVolume);
printf("End\n");

In the above code, we are calling the calculatevolume_in_java member function of

JavaServer class from the C++ code. Compile and run as before and verify that it is
working as expected.

Jni

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Written by Sumit Datta

33 Followers · Writer for The Startup

Loves dabbling in new technologies. All views expressed are mine.

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