Add the final modifier and a private constructor to javax.portlet.faces.BridgeUtil since it is a static utility class

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: None
• Fix Version/s: facesbridge-api-5.0.0
• Component/s: FacesBridge API
• Labels: None

The Bridge API features the javax.portlet.faces.BridgeUtil static utility class that contains two static methods:

public class BridgeUtil {

	public static Bridge.PortletPhase getPortletRequestPhase() { ... }
	public static boolean isPortletRequest() { ... }
}

This task involves adding the final modifier to the class signature and the following private constructor in order to prevent instantiation and subclassing:

public final class BridgeUtil {

	// Prevent instantiation and subclassing since this is a static utility class.
	private BridgeUtil() {
		throw new AssertionError();
	}

	...
}

Note that adding a private constructor to static utility classes is a recommended practice by Joshua Bloch in his book titled "Effective Java", Second Edition, page 19.

Although this is technically a "breaking change" to the API, the BridgeUtil class was never intended to be instantiated or subclassed. In the Spec Lead's opinion, it is a very minor risk that this would break any legacy JSF portlets.