Re: Simple Dispose Question

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From: Jon Skeet [C# MVP] (skeet_at_pobox.com)
Date: 02/24/05 

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 07:16:20 -0000

Jeff B. <jsb@community.nospam> wrote:
> If an object implements the IDisposable interface, should I always call the
> Dispose method or is just setting it to null and letting the GC handle it
> sufficient? Here is the pattern I've been using but wasn't sure if it was
> necessary:
>
> DataAdapter da = null;
>
> try {
> // Some logic here...
> } catch (Exception ex) {
> // Some exception handling logic here...
> } finally {
> // Clean up...
> if (da != null) {
> da.Dispose();
> da = null;
> }
>
> Is the above necessary or could I just set da = null in the "finally" clause
> and be good?

An equivalent but simpler solution would be to use the using statement:

using (DataAdapter da = ...)
{
...
}

(You can put a try/catch inside the using statement if you really want
- most of the time you should let exceptions propagate up.)

Relying on the garbage collector to release unmanaged resources is a
very bad idea - there's no guarantee about when it will finalize the
object. 

-- 
Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

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