How to create a singleton class

Question

What is the best/correct way to create a singleton class in java?

One of the implementation I found is using a private constructor and a getInstance() method.

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Answer 1

Best way to create Singleton Class in java is using Enums.

Example as below :

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
import java.io.Serializable;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method; 

enum SingleInstance{
    INSTANCE;

    private SingleInstance() {
        System.out.println("constructor");
    }   
}

public class EnumSingletonDemo {

    public static void main (String args[]) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException, ClassNotFoundException, NoSuchMethodException, SecurityException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException
    {
        SingleInstance s=SingleInstance.INSTANCE;
        SingleInstance s1=SingleInstance.INSTANCE;

        System.out.println(s.hashCode() + " "+s1.hashCode());//prints same hashcode indicates only one instance created

    //------- Serialization -------
    ObjectOutputStream oos=new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("sample.ser"));
    oos.writeObject(s);
    oos.close();

    //------- De-Serialization -------
    ObjectInputStream ois=new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream("sample.ser"));
    SingleInstance s2=(SingleInstance) ois.readObject();

    System.out.println("Serialization :: "+s.hashCode()+" "+s2.hashCode());// prints same hashcodes because JVM handles serialization in case of enum(we dont need to override readResolve() method)

   //-----Accessing private enum constructor using Reflection-----

    Class c=Class.forName("SingleInstance");

    Constructor co=c.getDeclaredConstructor();//throws NoSuchMethodException
    co.setAccessible(true);
    SingleInstance newInst=(SingleInstance) co.newInstance();           

}
}

NoSuchMethodException is thrown because we can't create another instance of enum 'SingleInstance' through its private constructor using Reflection.

In Case of Serialization enum implements serializable interface by default.