Question

I have following code that uses “using” block on TableHeaderCell, LiteralControl , HyperLink and GridViewRow (try..finally). The code is working as indented. Is there any issue/pitfall in disposing the controls with “using” block as shown below? If yes, can you provide any msdn reference that shows details of the pitfall?

    protected void grdTransactions_RowCreated(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
    {

        if (e != null)
        {
            if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.Header)
            {
                GridViewRow newHeaderRow = null;
                try
                {

                    newHeaderRow = new GridViewRow(-1, -1, DataControlRowType.Header, DataControlRowState.Normal);

                    using (TableHeaderCell cellFirst = new TableHeaderCell())
                    {
                        cellFirst.ColumnSpan = 1;
                        cellFirst.Text = "FIRST";
                        newHeaderRow.Cells.Add(cellFirst);
                    }


                    using (TableHeaderCell cellAssociate = new TableHeaderCell())
                    {
                        GetTableCell(cellAssociate,"tableColGroupAssociate", 4, "associateHide", "Associate Transaction Info");
                        newHeaderRow.Cells.Add(cellAssociate);
                    }

                    newHeaderRow.Cells.Add(cellAssociate);
                    ((GridView)sender).Controls[0].Controls.AddAt(0, newHeaderRow);

                }
                finally
                {
                    if (newHeaderRow != null)
                    {
                        newHeaderRow.Dispose();
                        newHeaderRow = null;
                    }
                }

            }
        }




    }

Helper Method

    private static void GetTableCell(TableHeaderCell cellAssociate, string cssClassName, int colSpan, string hideClassName, string displayName)
    {
        cellAssociate.ColumnSpan = colSpan;
        cellAssociate.CssClass = cssClassName;

        using (LiteralControl ltlText = new LiteralControl())
        {
            ltlText.Text = displayName;
            cellAssociate.Controls.Add(ltlText);
        }

        using (HyperLink lnkHide = new HyperLink())
        {
            lnkHide.Text = SupportToolUIResource.HideLinkText;
            lnkHide.CssClass = hideClassName;
            lnkHide.Target = SupportToolUIResource.HideLinkTarget;
            cellAssociate.Controls.Add(lnkHide);
        }


    }

Reference:

1. Why would I need to call dispose on ASP.NET Controls?

Answer 1

Thanks to @Tim Medora for the explanation and the link Why would I need to call dispose on ASP.NET Controls? .

Some points of interest are:

1. What we need to do is make sure that new controls are added is in the Controls’ collection so that it will be disposed when the Page is disposed.
2. Control objects implement the IDisposable interface. Each parent control can call Dispose on all of its children
3. Any properly-written object that implements IDisposable and has state data that is actually cleaned up during the dispose process should throw an ObjectDisposedException if any of its public/protected/internal properties or methods are accessed after it has been disposed. (Assume invalid state after Dispose has been called.) Some types will ignore this rule if they don’t actually have anything to clean up, and don’t have to worry about invalid state.

Conclusion

No need to use “using” block on webcontrols. Also, it may cause issues if “using” block is used on webcontrols.