Question

I’m wondering if anyone can answer this question for me.

Suppose I create an instance of a class object:

var holderObject:HolderObject = new HolderObject();
addChild(holderObject);

As part of the HolderObject’s constructor code it allocates 10 new instance variables:

var mcArray:Array = new Array();

for (var i:uint = 0; i > 9; i++) {
var newMC:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
newMC.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doSomething, false, 0, true);
mcArray.push(newMC);
addChild(newMC);
}

If I now set holderObject = null;

Will any of those memory allocations be available for garbage collection?

or would I need to explicitly undo the steps I made i.e.:

destroyHolder(holderObject);


function destroyHolder(theHolder:HolderObject):void {

 for (var i:uint = 0; i > 9; i++) {

    theHolder.mcArray[i].removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doSomething);
    theHolder.removeChild(theHolder.mcArray[i]);
    theHolder.mcArray.splice(theHolder.mcArray.length-1, 1);   

 }

removeChild(theHolder);
theHolder = null;


}

Answer 1

Yes, they will be garbage collected if there are no other references to those objects.

Understanding garbage collection in Flash Player 9