How Mybatis (iBatis) read my private variable?

Question

I was wondering how Mybatis get the private variable in Java.

For example:

Let's say we have a Java class called Foo:

public class Foo{
   private int foolID;

   public Foo(int foolID){
     this.foolID = foolID;
   }
}

And let's create XML mapper for insert.

<insert id="insert" parameterType="Foo">
    insert into foo_table (id)
    values (#{foolID});
</insert>

Let's say there are FooDAO java class and FooMapper java interface for this insert.

My question is how come foolID is readable even without Getter (Even if there is a getter method for foolID, I never specify what the getter is...). It seems like magic to me, and I know there is no magic for programming... :)

The only way I can think of is reflection.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Answer 1

That's correct, reflection is used to access private fields, but only if accessing private fields is not restricted. Seams like reflection is used heavily not just to access private fields but to invoke setters getters etc.