How do I get deterministic finalization in C#?

In a garbage collected environment, it's impossible to get true determinism. However, a design pattern that we recommend is implementing IDisposable on any class that contains a critical resource. Whenever this class is consumed, it may be placed in a using statement, as shown in the following example:

using(FileStream myFile = File.Open(@"c:temptest.txt",

FileMode.Open))

{

int fileOffset = 0;

while(fileOffset < myFile.Length)

{

Console.Write((char)myFile.ReadByte());

fileOffset++;

}

}

When myFile leaves the lexical scope of the using, its dispose method will be called.

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anupamsh

  • Mar 7th, 2012
 

That is true. A class implementing the interface IDisposable can be used in the using statement, something like:

Code
  1. using (MyClass objMyClass = new MyClass())

    2. 

  2.     {

    3. 

  3.         objMyClass.DoSomething();

    4. 

  4.     }

    5. 

  5.  

    6. 

  6. This is calling the following code under the hood:

    7. 

  7.     MyClass objMyClass = new MyClass();

    8. 

  8.     try {

    9. 

  9.         objMyClass.DoSomething();

    10. 

  10.     }

    11. 

  11.     finally {

    12. 

  12.         if (objMyClass != null)

    13. 

  13.             ((IDisposable)objMyClass).Dispose();

    14. 

  14.     }

    15. 

  15.  

    16. 

  16.  

    17. 

  17. Now when we talk about deterministic disposal and the IDisposable interface, we typically do it in the following manner:

    18. 

  18.     public void Dispose()

    19. 

  19.     {

    20. 

  20.         this.Dispose(true);    // This line of code calls another function of this object, which actually disposes the resources used

    21. 

  21.         GC.SuppressFinalize(this);    // This line specifies that GC should now ignore this object from its usual garbage collection cycle

    22. 

  22.     }

    23. 

  23.             

    24. 

  24.     protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)

    25. 

  25.     {

    26. 

  26.         // Code here for freeing up the resources used by this object, performing checks for it being null or already disposed

    27. 

  27.     }

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