For all the reflection gurus out there

Question

I need to be able to access protected classes/interfaces and protected methods from another package. I know this completely undermines the entire idea of java�s protection keywords, but I don�t have any other choice. I also understand that this will possibly lock me into a specific VM version and implementation that I can use for my application because it is not part of the java API spec. Having said that I still need it to work. My real goal here is to create my own modal window behavior because Sun�s is not robust enough for our needs.
I need the following code to work:
FILE1
package protect;
public class Helper {
    public static Object getEventDispatchThreadInstance() {
        return new EventDispatchThread();
interface Conditional {
    public void evaluate();
class EventDispatchThread extends Thread {
    void pumpEvents(Conditional condition) {
        condition.evaluate();
}FILE2
package my;
import protect.Helper;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
public class MyClass {
    public MyClass() {
        try {
            Class evDispatchThread = Class.forName("protect.EventDispatchThread");
            Class conditional = Class.forName("protect.Conditional");
            Object[] conditionalInstance = {new Object() {
                public boolean evaluate() {
                    System.out.println("Please work");
                    return false;
            Method method = evDispatchThread.getDeclaredMethod("pumpEvents", new Class[] { conditional });
            method.setAccessible(true);
            method.invoke(Helper.getEventDispatchThreadInstance(),
                conditionalInstance);  // This throws an IllegalArgumentException :(    
        } catch (Exception ex) {System.out.println(ex);}
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyClass instance = new MyClass();
}The method.invoke call doesn�t work. I think the problem is because the conditionalInstance is not an instance of protect.Conditional. If protect.Conditional was not protected I would be able to do a cast, but I can�t because the compiler complains about it. How can I create an interface that is protected by using reflection? I also need to have my implementation of the evaluate method be executed when it is called in the pumpEvents call of the EventDispatchThread object.
If you want a better idea of what I am trying to do in my application you can check out these threads:
Project Swing->Help with the event dispatch thread
Project Swing->Modality..what is it good for (absolutely nooothing)
Thanks
Lance

Answer 1

I didn�t say it was the smartest thing to do, but it is either this or rewrite swing or our application to use a different GUI interface. I would rather be able to get this to work. Hey if it isn�t possible it isn�t possible.
By the way DrClap you might want to find a different language then. You can access several methods that are protected by using reflection. The problems with my code are that it seems like you can�t use reflection to make protected interfaces, you can�t extend protected classes/interfaces, and you can�t cast correctly with these protected objects. The method.setAccessible(true); actually works. Check out the java.lange.reflect.AccessibleObject in the api.
Lance