Question

I have a marshalable class that contains a factory method. The factory method can be used to instantiate the class in a test AppDomain. I’m trying to understand whether I can use the class with the using( … ) dispose pattern.

The principle concern for me is whether the test AppDomain is Unloaded — and when. I’ve added a static flag to the class that’s set when an instance method is invoked. If the appdomain is not unloaded, then I believe this flag should retain it’s setting in subsequent invocations.

A sample class and test console app would look like this:

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Threading;

namespace AppDomainInDispose
{
    public class TestClass : MarshalByRefObject, IDisposable
    {
        public void Run()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello from {0}", Thread.GetDomain().FriendlyName);
            if (_flag)
                Console.WriteLine("Flagged!");
            else
                _flag = true;
        }

        private static bool _flag = false;

        public static TestClass InstantiateInTestDomain()
        {
            var callingDomain = Thread.GetDomain();
            var setup = new AppDomainSetup() { ApplicationBase = callingDomain.SetupInformation.ApplicationBase };
            _domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain("test-domain", null, setup);
            _domain.DomainUnload += _domain_DomainUnload;

            var assembly = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(TestClass)).CodeBase;
            var proxy = _domain.CreateInstanceFromAndUnwrap(assembly, "AppDomainInDispose.TestClass") as TestClass;

            return proxy;
        }

        static void _domain_DomainUnload(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Unloading");
        }

        public static AppDomain _domain = null;

        public void Dispose()
        {
            Dispose(true);
            GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
        }

        ~TestClass()
        {
            Dispose(false);
        }

        private void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if(disposing)
            {
                //AppDomain.Unload(_domain);    // can't, as I'm in the AppDomain
            }
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            using(var testClass = TestClass.InstantiateInTestDomain())
            {
                testClass.Run();
            }
            using (var testClass = TestClass.InstantiateInTestDomain())
            {
                testClass.Run();    // if the appdomain hasn't been unloaded then the static flag will still be set
            }

            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

It seems that in this limited test the AppDomain is being unloaded — but I’m not sure where. Could someone explain what’s going on with the AppDomain? Is this approach a very bad idea?

EDIT: Looks like you can have multiple AppDomains sharing the same name, which I didn’t realise. Also, the DomainUnload event isn’t fired, so I might assume that the domain is not being unloaded. That, or the event is not fired in some circumstances (perhaps while the hosting process is shutting down).

Answer 1

Hmmm.. it is getting a bit complicated. If you want to be sure that the app domain does get unloaded after the using block end, below is one such implementation. I have separated the 2 concerns here “create app domain and handling of app domain” and “the Type itself that is being loaded in app domain”. (All this is in main prog class)

public class GenericDisposable<T> : IDisposable
{
    public Action Dispose { get; set; }
    public T Object { get; set; }
    void IDisposable.Dispose()
    {
        Dispose();
    }

}
public static GenericDisposable<T> CreateDomainWithType<T>()
{
    var appDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain("test-domain");
    var inst = appDomain.CreateInstanceAndUnwrap(typeof(T).Assembly.FullName, typeof(T).FullName);
    appDomain.DomainUnload += (a, b) => Console.WriteLine("Unloaded");
    return new GenericDisposable<T>() { Dispose = () => AppDomain.Unload(appDomain), Object = (T)inst };
}
public class User : MarshalByRefObject
{
    public void Sayhello()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Hello from User");
    }
}

//Usage              
static void Main()
{
    using (var wrap = CreateDomainWithType<User>())
    {
        wrap.Object.Sayhello();
    }
    Console.Read();
}