I am just starting to figure out JDI a little bit for creating a custom debugger. I have been trying to convert reference objects into real objects, so I can access their fields or methods without using invoke. I include the jar into the project from the target vm so I have access to all of the real objects. I then try to cast but get the exception like com.sun.tools.jdi.ObjectReference cannot be cast to myobject. Is there any way to do something like this or do you have to use invoke?
User user = (User) frame.thisObject();
This kind of cast is not possible at all because you have to think a debugger as an external process that doesn't know nothing about target program domain objects.
Your scenario is a special situation but usually debugger doesn't include target jars.