Recognize Disposable Objects in Visual Studio?
Asked Answered
M

10

31

It is suggested that IDisposable objects should be disposed in either using statement or by calling Dispose() method. I find it is not intuitive to find out if an object is disposable in Visual Studio.

My question is: is there any way to recognize IDisposable objects in VS?

Monanthous answered 26/4, 2017 at 13:7 Comment(7)
Why not simply check the classes you use for the IDisposable interface and use a using statement to instanciate those?Match
the intellisense will tell you if it has a dispose method implementedNickell
I find it is not intuitive to see the implemented interfaces in VS compared to Java IDE. May be Im new to VS!!Monanthous
@Nickell While correct in most cases, there's no reason you can't put a Dispose() method on an object you create without implementing IDisposable.Upstretched
Right click on the object in question, select Go To Definition, there you can see how it's implemented. (you might have to go up the stack multiple times)Odessa
@Odessa Note I have already answered this.Sniffle
For what it's worth, there are some things that implement IDisposable that you probably don't need to worry about disposing. blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/pfxteam/2012/03/25/…Matthaus
S
29

If you want to highlight disposable objects differently in VS please check out this post. I personally prefer Resharper answer as I always use R#.

If you just want to figure out if your object is an instance of some interface you can right-button-click on the variable name and Navigate -> Object Browser or Go to Declaration and then right-button-click on class name Go to Definition/Peek Definition.

enter image description here

You might like Peek Definition as it shows everything you need inline:

enter image description here

You can always check what methods object has, if it has Dispose() method then 99.9% it's a disposable object. I'll give this 0.01% for those who give methods bad names :).

Sapodilla answered 26/4, 2017 at 13:8 Comment(1)
Don´t forget the types in you 0.01 % that implement IDisposable explicitly. But mostly these types provide a Close() method.Caudle
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25

I'm surprised that no-one else has mentioned this yet. If your edition of Visual Studio supports it, I'd suggest turning on Code Analysis for Build.

Once that's done, pick whatever rule sets you like so long as they ensure that, at the least, CA2000 (Dispose objects before losing scope), CA2213 (Disposable fields should be disposed) and CA2202 (Do not dispose objects multiple times) rules are covered. That way, the compiler should shout at you if you're not dealing with disposable objects correctly.

(Although note that getting the compiler to not flag some usage of disposable objects can then turn into the bigger challenge, as many StackOverflow questions can attest)

Been answered 27/4, 2017 at 5:48 Comment(3)
Can you edit in what these rules are? I have no idea what CA2213 is and I shouldn't have to go to an external link to find out.Sniffle
@Sniffle - I've edited in the rule names. I don't see much value in putting anything further in. I'm linking to the full documentation and even if the links do go bad I'm giving the Code Analysis codes which should remain stable.Been
TIPS: You may need to install the MIcrosoft Code Analysis plugin into Visual Studio or the Nuget package into your project. You will probably want to go Project > References > Analysers > Open Active Rule Set > (Make Changes) > Save As > (file in solution folder). You then need to update the csproj to use the newly saved rule set. You may need VS Enterprise also?Ruffianism
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8

You can use Object Browser to view class inheritance hierarchy with implemented interfaces

enter image description here

Nabalas answered 26/4, 2017 at 14:7 Comment(0)
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For the sake of completeness, if you don't ask how to check it in your code but you just want to know where you can look if the type implements an interface like IDisposable, you can always look at MSDN.

For example FileStream

  • it's already mentioned in the remarks section:

This type implements the IDisposable interface. When you have finished using the type, you should dispose of it either directly or indirectly. To dispose of the type directly, call its Dispose method in a try/catch block. To dispose of it indirectly, use a language construct such as using (in C#) or Using (in Visual Basic). For more information, see the “Using an Object that Implements IDisposable” section in the IDisposable interface topic.

  • or search for the Dispose method. There you can see if this class or any parent class implements IDispable. In this case it is inherited from Stream which implements that interface which is mentioned at the class syntax and in the remarks section.

    public abstract class Stream : MarshalByRefObject, IDisposable
    

If you want to know how to find implementations of an interface in Visual Studio, here is already a question that answers that:

How do you find all implementations of an interface?

Oakman answered 26/4, 2017 at 13:17 Comment(9)
I can find interfaces easily in Java (less than 1 sec) but I find it is quite hard to see it in C#. Searching for IDisapsable is much slower.Monanthous
@TDNguyen How do you do it in Java?Nowise
@TDNguyen. Yes; i'm missing also a list of all interfaces that a type implements either directly or indirectly through parent types. There's only an inheritance hierarchy that doesn't contain the interfaces.Oakman
@DavidG: in the javadocs you see all implenented interfaces directly at the top of a type: docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/io/FileReader.htmlOakman
@TDNguyen the easist way is to search on google, just do msdn YourClassHere and the first result is almost always the microsoft MSDN page for the class that tells you all the information for it.Salade
@ScottChamberlain: yes, but i'm missing a list of all implemented interfaces of a given type in MSDN. You have to click through all classes in the inheritance hierarchyOakman
@TimSchmelter true, one easy way to get that list though is to do the "Navigate to Metadata" in Visual Studio it shows the inherited interfaces in that view. It also has the added benifit of working on any types instead of just the framework ones.Salade
@TimSchmelter Yes, but OP implies it's an IDE thing, not a docs thing. Also, docs will only help for framework types, not custom ones.Nowise
I'm now thinking we should dupe this to your linked question.Nowise
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6

As a (silly?) alternative to shelling out for Resharper and its ilk, Visual Studio does have the concept of External Tools (in the Tools menu), which you could (ab)use to do something like:

  • Title: Is Disposa&ble
  • Command: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
  • Arguments: -Command "&{$i=[Type]::GetType('System.IDisposable');[AppDomain]::CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()|%{ $_.GetTypes()}|?{$_.FullName.EndsWith('.$(CurText)')}|%{New-Object PSObject -Property @{'Type'=$_;'IDisposable'=$i.IsAssignableFrom($_)}}|ft}"
  • Use Output window: checked

This would read whatever string you had selected in the editor, search for .NET types with that string as a name and show a True/False as to whether that string implemented IDisposable.

The Powershell command in the tool is just the quickest approach I could do to demonstrate the possibility, but it is far from perfect -- it only finds types in assemblies that Powershell loads by default. If you wanted to expand on the idea, you could build a command-line .NET app that loaded your project and scanned all the assemblies that your project loaded.

If you highlighted the word Stream in your code, for example, and ran your external tool (ALT+T,ALT+B in the example), it would return:

Type             IDisposable
----             -----------
System.IO.Stream        True

To break down the Powershell command:

&{ $i=[Type]::GetType('System.IDisposable');        # Get the IDisposable interface
   [AppDomain]::CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies() `     # Get all loaded assemblies
    | %{ $_.GetTypes() } `                          # For each assembly, get all types
    | ?{ $_.FullName.EndsWith('.$(CurText)') } `    # Filter types that are named $(CurText) - $(CurText) is a macro within VS External Tools
    | %{ New-Object PSObject -Property @{           # For each type, return an object containing...
         'Type' = $_;                               # ...the type name...
         'IDisposable' = $i.IsAssignableFrom($_)    # ...and whether the IDisposable interface is implemented
       } } `
    | ft }                                          # Format all returned objects as a table
Bilious answered 26/4, 2017 at 19:30 Comment(1)
Like you said this snippet of PowerShell could use a few improvements, but as a proof-of-concept starting point this is great, not silly. After the initial setup this should be the quickest way to determine if the selected text is a type that implements IDisposable without the need for third-party tools or traipsing through the hierarchy manually. +1!Habitual
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5

A way to see what interfaces a class implements, along with all of it's publicly exposed fields, properties, methods etc. is to go to that class in the code. For example:

Image image = Image.FromFile(path);

Make sure you click on the class, not the instance and press F12. This will take you to a metadata file for that class. For example: the Image.cs file has the following above class declaration:

public abstract class Image : MarshalByRefObject, ISerializable, ICloneable, IDisposable

You can then also use F12 to click through to other classes. Note that these classes are usually shown up in the Light Blue colour in Visual Studio:

Screenshot showing light blue colours.

You can also get to this meta data file by right clicking on the class and selecting "Go To Definition" from the drop down list.


Though not ideal you can also go to an instance of the class and put a . on the end. This should bring up the intellisense and you will be able to see Dispsose() in the list if the item implements the interface.

You could also just write myInstance.Dispose(); or using (myInstance = new MyClass()) {} and if it compiles the class implements the interface else it doesn't.

Sniffle answered 26/4, 2017 at 14:16 Comment(0)
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2

Easiest way to find out this is by using memory warning in Code Analysis.

  1. Enable Code Analysis to "Run on build" on project properties. enter image description here

  2. Look for following warnings after build

CA2000

A local object of an IDisposable type is created, but the object is not disposed before all references to the object are out of scope.

CA2213

A type that implements System.IDisposable declares fields that are of types that also implement IDisposable. The Dispose method of the field is not called by the Dispose method of the declaring type.

enter image description here

Paction answered 5/12, 2022 at 2:33 Comment(0)
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0

In my case "Code Analysis" was not showing the CS2000 rule when I build the project or ran "Analyze - Run Code Analysis".

There's an .editorconfig file in the solution root, where you can add this line:

dotnet_diagnostic.CA2000.severity = warning

After that code analysis started showing rule violations.

Alternative solution was to add this line to the project file:

 <AnalysisMode>All</AnalysisMode>

But this slows the build down severely. So enable/disable as needed, ad-hoc.

It appears that the default analysis level rule-set is lower, than required to detect this particular rule-violation.

Epicenter answered 21/2 at 17:25 Comment(0)
C
-2

either using or in Dispose() method Use the using construct when you can. Here's why. Using this MSDN example, here are two equivalent blocks of code. This one with using:

using (Font font1 = new Font("Arial", 10.0f)) 
{
    byte charset = font1.GdiCharSet;
}

This one without using:

{
    Font font1 = new Font("Arial", 10.0f);
    try
    {
        byte charset = font1.GdiCharSet;
    }
    finally
    {
        if (font1 != null)
            ((IDisposable)font1).Dispose();
    }
}

Each part of the second block is there for a reason: the curly braces, the try-finally, the null check, and the cast to IDisposable. No one should be expected to remember this. That's why the using construct exists.

Chromatin answered 26/4, 2017 at 17:37 Comment(1)
I think the question is not why one should use using/Dispose(), but rather how to recognize which objects implement IDisposable and, therefore, should be handled by using using/Dispose(). In other words, you say "Use the using construct when you can" and the question is asking "In Visual Studio, how do I know 'when I can'?"Habitual
W
-3

Something clean that can be done in C#7

class Foo : IDisposable {
    string _bar = "init";
    void Fooy() { _bar = "fooy"; }

    public void Dispose() {
        _bar = null;       
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        var v = new Foo();
        Console.WriteLine(v._bar);
        if(v is IDisposable id) using(id)
            v.Fooy();
        else
            v.Fooy();

        Console.WriteLine(v._bar ?? "null");;

    }
}

Fooy could be some virtual or abstract function. Some base classes may implement IDisposable while others not. Try running the above code. The console will print different text depending whether or not IDisposable has been implemented

Weka answered 26/4, 2017 at 16:57 Comment(4)
v.Fooy() else v.Fooy()? Is that a typo?Fortyniner
@EdPlunkett I think calling the same method on both sides of the if is "correct" (though I don't agree that it's "clean"). The idea is to call v.Fooy() whether or not v implements IDisposable, then dispose of v (via using) if it does implement IDisposable. Perhaps translating using to try/finally would make it clearer: try { v.Fooy(); } finally { if (v is IDisposable id) id.Dispose(); }, but it still seems like a runtime solution to an IDE/documentation issue.Habitual
Your right BACON. That would be the way to go about doing it. I was just playing around with some CS7 code.Weka
@BACON Ahhh, now I see. The purpose is just to get using(id) in there. Thank you.Fortyniner

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