Question

I have been wrapping my OracleConnection and OracleCommand objects in USING statements for a while now, however, after running code analyzer I discover that OracleParameter also implements IDisposable. Is the following code correct? Is there a better technique for readability or structure? At first glance it just seems to be cluttered with USING statements:

using (OracleConnection conn = new OracleConnection(connectionstring))
{
    conn.Open();
    using (OracleCommand cmd = new OracleCommand(sql, conn))
    {
        cmd.BindByName = true;

        using (OracleParameter param1 = new OracleParameter("p1", OracleDbType.Int32, System.Data.ParameterDirection.Input))
        {
            param1.Value = int.Parse(value1);
            cmd.Parameters.Add(param1);
        }

        using (OracleParameter param2 = new OracleParameter("p2", OracleDbType.Varchar2, System.Data.ParameterDirection.Input))
        {
            param2.Value = value2;
            cmd.Parameters.Add(param2);
        }

        using (OracleDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader())
        {
            // loop data here...
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

You want to dispose of the parameters only at the very end of their use, including during the query (and possibly the reading of the results):

using (OracleConnection conn = new OracleConnection(connectionstring))
{
    conn.Open();
    using (OracleCommand cmd = new OracleCommand(sql, conn))
    {
        cmd.BindByName = true;

        using (OracleParameter param1 = new OracleParameter("p1", OracleDbType.Int32, System.Data.ParameterDirection.Input))
        using (OracleParameter param2 = new OracleParameter("p2", OracleDbType.Varchar2, System.Data.ParameterDirection.Input))
        {
            param1.Value = int.Parse(value1);
            cmd.Parameters.Add(param1);
            param2.Value = value2;
            cmd.Parameters.Add(param2);

            using (OracleDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader())
            {
                // loop data here...
            }
        }
    }
}

Notice that you can put multiple using statements in a row. This is because, like the if statement,

1. A using statement is considered a simple statement (even with a block); and
2. A using statement can take either a block or a statement underneath.