suspected memory leak

[Jack Fox]

I suspect, but can't prove a memory leak in my application.

My first suspicion was that I am using some objects that implement IDispose
and I wasn't calling the Dispose method, but I can't find any. The app uses
a lot of ArrayLists, SortedLists, Arrays, and StringBuilders.

The only other thing I can think of is that one of my working assumptions
about C# is incorrect:

1) If I declare an ArrayList, SortedList, Array, or StringBuilder locally in
a static or non-static method I DO NOT need to set them to null before the
method completes. As soon as the method is out of scope, they become
eligible for garbage collection.

2) If I declare ArrayLists, SortedLists, Arrays, or StringBuilders within my
own class, once an object derived from that class has no more references, it
and all of the objects within it are eligible for garbage collection without
setting any objects within the class to null. I do not need to implement the
IDispose interface for these classes, because there is nothing to Dispose
within them.

It is natrual for this app to grow. I may not have a leak at all. It may be
that I just do not understand why it grows so large.

 

[Mattias Sjögren]

Jack,

1) If I declare an ArrayList, SortedList, Array, or StringBuilder locally in
a static or non-static method I DO NOT need to set them to null before the
method completes. As soon as the method is out of scope, they become
eligible for garbage collection.

2) If I declare ArrayLists, SortedLists, Arrays, or StringBuilders within my
own class, once an object derived from that class has no more references, it
and all of the objects within it are eligible for garbage collection without
setting any objects within the class to null. I do not need to implement the
IDispose interface for these classes, because there is nothing to Dispose
within them.

Both of these are true, unless you keep reachable references to the
objects elsewhere.

It is natrual for this app to grow. I may not have a leak at all. It may be
that I just do not understand why it grows so large.

You could try using the Allocation Profiler (available from
gotdotnet.com I believe) with your app.



Mattias

 

[Eric Cadwell]

Yes, the definition of 'leaks' here being that you have reachable references
that you are not aware of (and would never be aware of).

They are a few profilers and they discuss the types of situations in which
you may have leaks. I've overcome a few leaks with the help of these tools.

http://www.automatedqa.com/techpapers/net_allocation_profiler.asp
http://www.scitech.se/memprofiler/


HTH;
Eric Cadwell
http://www.origincontrols.com