How to pass null into WeakReference constructor?

Question

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xt0a1s34(v=vs.100).aspx

Parameters

target

Type: System.Object

The object to track or null.

As far as I can understand this, it means that 'null' is a valid parameter for the WeakReference object...

The problem I see is following: when extracting value I will check if Target is not null... and if not - will use it as an object. But if "null" is passed as original target, then property "Target" of the weakReference object will not give me information: is object already garbage-collected or it was null always.

Question: if "Target" is null how can I understand that it because original object was null as well?

Thanks.

I wouldn't expect you to be able to tell the difference between `null` because the target was collected vs. `null` because there was no target in the first place. Why do you need to tell the difference? — Gabe, Apr 30 '12 at 04:46
Because i'm thinking about storing 'null' as value, see more details here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10378161/can-null-be-inserted-into-cache — Budda, Apr 30 '12 at 12:27

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 30 '12 at 04:35

0

You might want to try the IsAlive property. It's a boolean value that will tell you if the object pointed to has been collected.

answered Apr 30 '12 at 04:35

Mike

1

IsAlive is 'false' immediately when weak-object is created with 'null' target. – Budda Apr 30 '12 at 12:36

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

0

It looks like special object (that means 'there are no data') should be used instead of 'null' (same/similar to answer in Can null be inserted into Cache? question)

edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

Community

1
1

answered May 01 '12 at 03:11

Budda

18,015
33
124
206

How to pass null into WeakReference constructor?

2 Answers2