On Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:21:51 GMT, Marius Hanl <[email protected]> wrote:

>> This PR creates a WeakReferenceWrapper object to replace direct uses of 
>> WeakReference in controls where the referent is a user-supplied object of an 
>> unknown type.
>> 
>> As noted in JEP 401, which is now integrated into JDK 28, "The garbage 
>> collection APIs in java.lang.ref ... do not allow developers to manually 
>> manage value objects in the heap. Attempts to create Reference objects for 
>> value objects throw IdentityException at run time."
>> 
>> Several core JDK classes such as all of the primitive wrappers (e.g., 
>> `Integer`, `Character`), `Optional`, `LocalDateTime`, and a few others are 
>> now value types if JDK 28 is run with the `--enable-preview` option.
>> 
>> The `ListView`, `ComboBox`, `TableView`, and `TreeTableView` controls take a 
>> parameterized item type and hold items of that type. The following places in 
>> the implementation create weak references to an item. If that item type is a 
>> value class -- meaning that it does not have identity -- creating the 
>> `WeakReference` fails.
>> 
>> As noted in the JBS issue, there are 3 cases to consider.
>> 
>> 1. `SelectedItemsReadOnlyObservableList<E>` -- `E` is the item type (created 
>> by `MultipleSelectionModelBase<T>`) : `ListView`, `TableView`, `ComboBox` 
>> (due to its skin creating a `ListView<T>`) -- replace with 
>> `WeakReferenceWrapper`
>> 
>> 2. `TablePosition<S,T>` -- `S` is the item type : `TableView` -- the 
>> reference is unused, so I removed it
>> 
>> 3. `TableCell<S,T>` and `TreeTableCell<S,T>` -- `S` is the item type : 
>> `TableView`, `TreeTableView` -- replace with `WeakReferenceWrapper`
>> 
>> The new `WeakReferenceWrapper` class takes a referent of any type and either 
>> creates a WeakReference (if it has identity) or directly stores the 
>> reference (if it is null or does not have identity). I added a test for the 
>> wrapper.
>> 
>> All of the controls tests pass with this fix. I did three test runs as 
>> follows:
>> 
>> 1. JDK 25
>> 2. JDK 28 without `--enable-preview`
>> 3. JDK 28 with `--enable-preview`
>> 
>> Without the fix, 31 controls tests fails on the 3rd run.
>> 
>> ---------
>> - [x] I confirm that I make this contribution in accordance with the 
>> [OpenJDK Interim AI Policy](https://openjdk.org/legal/ai).
>
> modules/javafx.controls/src/main/java/com/sun/javafx/scene/control/SelectedItemsReadOnlyObservableList.java
>  line 40:
> 
>> 38:     private final ObservableList<Integer> selectedIndices;
>> 39:     private final Supplier<Integer> modelSizeSupplier;
>> 40:     private final List<WeakReferenceWrapper<E>> itemsRefList;
> 
> This is still confusing me as also mentioned in the ticket. For example, the 
> `SelectionModel` has a `selectedItem` property, where we save the item `<T>`. 
> So the item `T` is saved, without any `WeakReference` handling.
> 
> And this is used in e.g. `ComboBox`, which does not seems to leak memory. So 
> I wonder why we use a `WeakReference` here.
> 
> The `WeakReference` usage in the `TableCell` is also questionable.
> Maybe worth to research in a follow-up?

Yes, this is definitely worth a follow-up.

This is a very odd use of weak references. It's a short-lived list of 
previously removed items used in a subsequent change event.

Dan Smith @dlsmith-dev suggested something similar in this thread:

https://mail.openjdk.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/TD7AQH4SNRS4QAQAXTISKIERNK6LINYB/

The use of weak references suggests that when this was implemented, they were 
worried about a possible leak, so we would need to show that it can't leak in 
practice.

If we can prove using strong references won't lead to a leak, that would be the 
best solution anyway.

-------------

PR Review Comment: https://git.openjdk.org/jfx/pull/2250#discussion_r3798875661

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