How to Call Java methods using JavaScript on Android

In Cocos Creator Android build, you can call Java static methods directly in JavaScript. Its usage is very simple:

var result = jsb.reflection.callStaticMethod(className, methodName, methodSignature, parameters...)

In callStaticMethod method, we need to pass Java class name, method name, method signature and parameters, and we can get the return value from Java. The Java class name and method signature may be a little strange if you didn't have experience in JNI, but that is Java specifications.

Class name

The class name must contain Java package path. For example, we have a class Test in the package org.cocos2dx.javascript.

package org.cocos2dx.javascript;

public class Test {
    
    public static void hello(String msg){
        System.out.println(msg);
    }
    
    public static int sum(int a, int b){
        return a + b;
    }
    
    public static int sum(int a){
        return a + 2;
    }

}

The correct class name of Test is org/cocos2dx/javascript/Test. Note that we must use slash /, NOT the dot ..

Method name

The method name is very simple. For example, the method names of the above two sum methods are both sum.

Method signature

The method signature is a little complex. The simplest signature is ()V, it represents a method which has no parameters and no return value. Some other examples:

• (I)V represents a method which has a int parameter and no return value.
• (I)I represents a method which has a int parameter and a int return value.
• (IF)Z represents a method which has a int parameter and a float parameter, and returns boolean.

Now I think you have understood it. The symbols in brackets represent the type of parameters, and the symbol after bracket represent the type of return value. Because we are allowed to overload methods in Java, there can be multiple methods which hava the same method name, but different parameters and return value. The method signature is used to help identifying these methods.

Right now Cocos Creator supports four Java types:

Java type	signature
int	I
float	F
boolean	Z
String	Ljava / lang / String;

Parameters

The number of parameters can be 0 or more than one. And when we use callStaticMethod, we can use number, boolean and string of JavaScript directly.

Usage

Here is an example of invoking the static methods of Test class:

//call hello method
jsb.reflection.callStaticMethod("org/cocos2dx/javascript/Test", "hello", "(Ljava/lang/String;)V", "this is a message from js");

//call the first sum method
var result = jsb.reflection.callStaticMethod("org/cocos2dx/javascript/Test", "sum", "(II)I", 3, 7);
cc.log(result); //10

//call the second sum method
var result = jsb.reflection.callStaticMethod("org/cocos2dx/javascript/Test", "sum", "(I)I", 3);
cc.log(result); //5

Now look at your console, there should be correct output.

Attention

A very important thing we must pay attention to is thread safe! In cocos android app, the engine and JavaScript VM works in gl thread, and Android update its UI in ui thread. So if we call a Java method which will update app UI, it must run in ui thread.

For example, we will call a Java method which shows an Android AlertDialog.

//make some modification in AppActivity class
public class AppActivity extends Cocos2dxActivity {
    
    private static AppActivity app = null;
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        app = this;
    }
    
    public static void showAlertDialog(final String title,final String message) {
        
        //we must use runOnUiThread here
        app.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                AlertDialog alertDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(app).create();
                alertDialog.setTitle(title);
                alertDialog.setMessage(message);
                alertDialog.setIcon(R.drawable.icon);
                alertDialog.show();
            }
        });
    }
}

Then we call showAlertDialog in js:

jsb.reflection.callStaticMethod("org/cocos2dx/javascript/AppActivity", "showAlertDialog", "(Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/String;)V", "title", "hahahahha");

You should see a Android native AlertDialog now.

One more thing

Now we have successfully called Java methods in JavaScript, so can we call js in Java? Of course!

In your project add the Cocos2dxJavascriptJavaBridge, this class has a evalString method which can evaluate JavaScript. It's in the folder frameworks\js-bindings\bindings\manual\platform\android\java\src\org\cocos2dx\lib. We will add a OK button for the AlertDialog, and use evalString in its OnClickListener. Note that this time we should run js code in gl thread.

Generally speaking, the engine does not promise security in multi-threaded at present, so you need to avoid JS code being called in other threads during development to avoid various memory errors.

alertDialog.setButton("OK", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {

        //we must use runOnGLThread here
        app.runOnGLThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                Cocos2dxJavascriptJavaBridge.evalString("cc.log(\"JavaScript Java bridge!\")");
            }
        });
    }
});

If you want to call evalString in C++, please refer to the following method to ensure that evalString is executed in the thread where the JS engine is:

Application::getInstance()->getScheduler()->performFunctionInCocosThread([=](){
    se::ScriptEngine::getInstance()->evalString(script.c_str());
});

After clicking OK button, you should see the output. evalString can run any js code, and can access your js variables.