public class MyStateObject {
  	// preallocated array to hold values from a message
	private final ArrayList<MyEntity> myEntities = new ArrayList<MyEntity>(5); 
 
	public final void update(final Message message) {
       clearEntities();
       XIterator<MyEntity> iterator = message.getMyEntityIterator();
       while(iterator.hasNext()) {
		  final MyEntity entity = iterator.next();	
		  if(entity.getQuantity() > 0) {
              //Acquire a reference since this is owned by the 
              //by the message:
              entity.acquire(); 
              myEntities.add(entity.copy()); 
          }
       }
    }
 
    public void clearEntities() {
       //Dereference and clear previously acquired entities:
       if(!myEntities.isEmpty()) {
          for(int i = 0; i < myEntities.size(); i++) {
             myEntities.get(i).dispose();
          }
		  myEntities.clear();
       }
    }
}