WeakRef

A structure containing a weak reference to a #GObject.

A GWeakRef can either be empty (i.e. point to null), or point to an object for as long as at least one "strong" reference to that object exists. Before the object's #GObjectClass.dispose method is called, every #GWeakRef associated with becomes empty (i.e. points to null).

Like #GValue, #GWeakRef can be statically allocated, stack- or heap-allocated, or embedded in larger structures.

Unlike g_object_weak_ref() and g_object_add_weak_pointer(), this weak reference is thread-safe: converting a weak pointer to a reference is atomic with respect to invalidation of weak pointers to destroyed objects.

If the object's #GObjectClass.dispose method results in additional references to the object being held (‘re-referencing’), any #GWeakRefs taken before it was disposed will continue to point to null. Any #GWeakRefs taken during disposal and after re-referencing, or after disposal has returned due to the re-referencing, will continue to point to the object until its refcount goes back to zero, at which point they too will be invalidated.

It is invalid to take a #GWeakRef on an object during #GObjectClass.dispose without first having or creating a strong reference to the object.