I am working on an AJAX application with a lot of Javascript. All pages are loaded through AJAX.
On a certain page I have a grid which is build in Javascript. Now when I leave that page I want to destroy that grid. I call jQuery.remove() but this only deletes the object from the DOM.
My question is how can I delete this grid object from the memory? Cause it still exists when I move away from the page.

Much appreciated!

I am working on an AJAX application with a lot of Javascript. All pages are loaded through AJAX.
On a certain page I have a grid which is build in Javascript. Now when I leave that page I want to destroy that grid. I call jQuery.remove() but this only deletes the object from the DOM.
My question is how can I delete this grid object from the memory? Cause it still exists when I move away from the page.

Much appreciated!

• javascript
• memory-management
• garbage-collection

• 2 How do you know that this object still exists in memory after you navigate away from the page? – Darin Dimitrov Commented Feb 25, 2011 at 8:26
• Do you store grid identifier in variable? If so then make gridVar = null; – CoolEsh Commented Feb 25, 2011 at 8:26
• 1 It's pletely up to the browser... I guess you assume it still exist in memory because the browser process memory usage is not decreasing? – Shadow Wizzard Commented Feb 25, 2011 at 8:28
• When I open the firebug console I can see the object still exists. It's only deleted from the DOM. – Gerard Commented Feb 25, 2011 at 10:21
• firebug can't really tell what is in the memory and what isn't in the memory, I would look for more "reliable" tool if you're really into it. – Shadow Wizzard Commented Feb 27, 2011 at 8:52

2 Answers 2

If you delete all references to your grid (i.e. assign null to the variable), the garbage collector will delete the object from memory.

put the grid into a div or anything you want. when you want to delete it use

$("<the name of the div>").empty();

that will clear it.