How can I access Java heap objects without a reference?

Question

I would like to get a reference to all objects in the Java heap, even if I don\'t immediately have a reference to those objects in my active thread. I don\'t need non-refere

Answer 1

If you want to take a heap dump programmatically, you'll not find suitable APIs in the java.* or javax.* namespace. However, the Sun runtime comes with the HotSpotDiagnosticMXBean which will enable you to take a heap dump by writing the contents of the heap on to a specified file in disk.

Answer 2

I'd look into the the instrument package. Instrument the classes you are interested in so the ctor registers the created instance. You might be able to do this via AspectJ should you not want to use the java.lang.instrument or if the objects are created via something you can control (an IoC container or factories) then you can do something a good chunk less magical.

Answer 3

I suggest you take a heap dump and then inspect it using the Eclipse Memory Analyser.

The views available allow you to drill down to instance level, view object properties. You can even query objects using OQL - and SQL-like query language for objects.

The left panel in the below screenshot demonstrates inspecting field values.

screenshot http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/4013/dominatortreegrouped.png