[java] Java garbage collection confusing me

if you have no refereces at all, how is the listener calling it?

Have some code examples?

Do the object share a common MouseListener instance, or do they implement it directly? If the latter, it is weird.

Edit: Sorry, posted before I noticed the response.

That last post was me.

My base object for objects that can be clicked is declared like this:



Then in the constructor of the object I make the call to add the mouseListener. So each object should have their own.

Do you mean that I should have 1 interface for mouse listening and pass the event to all objects that need it instead of doing it the way I am now where each object has its own mouse listener?

No, I mean that since you add the mouse listeners to your renderCanvas, you have one shared version of a MouseListener list. So until you call renderCanvas.removeMouseListener( object ), object will always have a reference, and thus not go away.

If you in each ClickableObject called this.addMouseListener(this) etc., each object would have its own. (Not saying this is a good idea at all, just for explanation).

Alright, well then I basically know what I need to do, I'll make sure that I remove the instance from the mouseListener list in the Canvas. Is this a good way to be doing this or is there a better way? Thanks for the help.