Garbage Collection

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The object handle associated with a Java object is considered to be an object reference by the Java VM, ensuring that the Java object is not garbage collected while Tcl is using it. Tcl will release the object handle when the last reference to the handle in a Tcl script goes away. A handle is considered to be active as long as at least one Tcl_Obj points to the handle. In practice this means that Java object handles must be stored in Tcl variables or passed as arguments to other commands to keep them from being released. Constructing a Java object handle using concat or some other string manipulation command will produce a string that can be used where a Java object handle is expected, but it will not count as a reference to the object for garbage collection purposes.

Tcl objects usually remain one type over their life, but occasionally a Tcl object must be converted from one type to another. For example, a Java object handle may be passed as the argument to the llength command. The internal rep of the Tcl object is converted from a Java object handle to a Tcl List. When this happens the ref count of the Java object handle is decremented. If the ref count becomes zero, the Java object handle is invalidated and the Tcl variable no longer accesses a Java object. For example:

# Create a new Java Object.  The ref count equals one.
set o [nsjava::new java.lang.Object]

# Call a method of the Java Object.
puts [$o toString]

# Convert the Java object handle to a Tcl List.  This
# decrements the ref count by one.  The ref count equals
# zero and the  Java object is invalidated.
llength $o

# This command will generate an error, because the
# Tcl object no longer references a valid Java object.
puts [$o toString]

The solution is to guarantee that the Java object handle's ref count does not become zero. Use the nsjava::lock and nsjava::unlock commands to maintain a permanent reference to the Java object handle. For example:

# Create a new Java object.  The ref count equals one.
set o [nsjava::new java.lang.Object]

# Lock the Java Object handle so it is not invalidated.
# The ref count now equals two.
nsjava::lock $o

# Convert the Java object to a Tcl List.  This decrements
# the ref count by one.  The ref count equals one and the 
# Java object remains valid.
llength $o

# Now this command works.  It also increments the ref count
# of the java object, because a Tcl List is being converted
# to the original Java object handle.
puts [$o toString]

# Remove the lock and decrement the ref count.
nsjava::unlock $o

# Now this will fail as in the previous example.
llength $o
puts [$o toString]

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