Contents | Prev | Next | Index

invokevirtual

The objectref must be of type reference. The index is used as an index into the method table of the class of the type of objectref. If the objectref is an array type, then the method table of class Object is used. The table entry at that index includes a direct reference to the method's code and its modifier information (see Table 4.4, "Method access and modifier flags").

The objectref must be followed on the operand stack by nargs - 1 words of arguments, where the number of words of arguments and the type and order of the values they represent must be consistent with the descriptor of the selected instance method.

If the method is synchronized, the monitor associated with objectref is acquired.

If the method is not native, the nargs - 1 words of arguments and objectref are popped from the operand stack. A new stack frame is created for the method being invoked, and objectref and the words of arguments are made the values of its first nargs local variables, with objectref in local variable 0, arg1 in local variable 1, and so on. The new stack frame is then made current, and the Java Virtual Machine pc is set to the opcode of the first instruction of the method to be invoked. Execution continues with the first instruction of the method.

If the method is native and the platform-dependent code that implements it has not yet been loaded and linked into the Java Virtual Machine, that is done. The nargs - 1 words of arguments and objectref are popped from the operand stack; the code that implements the method is invoked in an implementation-dependent manner.

Linking Exceptions
During resolution of the CONSTANT_Methodref constant pool item, any of the exceptions documented in §5.2 can be thrown.


Contents | Prev | Next | Index

Java Virtual Machine Specification (HTML generated by dkramer on February 25, 1997)
Copyright © 1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved
Please send any comments or corrections to doug.kramer@sun.com