Dosen't Reflection API break the very purpose of Data encapsulation?

Question

Very recently I came across the Reflection API and to my surprise we can access and even alter the private variables.I tried the following code

import java.l         


        

Answer 1

Isn't the reflection API changing the very purpose of Data Encapsulation?

Don't get too hung up on the rules. There are times when it's useful to break them.

Reflextion is very useful. Take for example my code for logging finding changes so that I can log them to a database:

public static void log(String userID, Object bOld, Object bNew)
          throws IntrospectionException, IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException {
      String res = "";//String to hold the change record
      boolean changed = false;
      try {
        if(bOld != null){ //if this is an update
            BeanInfo beanInfo = Introspector.getBeanInfo(bOld.getClass());
            res = bOld.getClass().getSimpleName() + " - ";
            //loop and compare old values with new values and add them to our string if they are changed
            for (PropertyDescriptor prop : beanInfo.getPropertyDescriptors()) {
                Method getter = prop.getReadMethod();
                Object vOld = getter.invoke(bOld); //old value
                Object vNew = getter.invoke(bNew); //new value
                if (vOld == vNew || (vOld != null && vOld.equals(vNew))) {
                  continue;
                }
                changed = true;
                res = res + "(" + prop.getName()  + ", " +  vOld  + ", " + vNew + ")";
            }
          }

It's a lot easier to do it this way. If I was using getters I would have to write a seperate method for each class and modify every time a new field was added. With reflection I can just write one method to handle all of my classes. I write about my method for logging changes here