java store objects that may be garbage collected

In Java, I recall there is a way to store objects in a usable format that may be garbage collected. It is some sort of loose reference. If they get garbage collected there is a way to detect and reload.

I'm havi开发者_Python百科ng a hard time finding this. There is so much information about GC in general. Anyone know the name?

I believe you are looking for WeakReference

You're thinking of Weak References.

I think you're looking for the *Reference classes in java.lang.ref. The ReferenceQueue class allows you to be notified when a reference is collected.

You might also find FinalizableReference from Google Guava useful.