引用静态属性是否会导致内存泄漏

Question

I have a long-running application that consistently fails due to a memory leak.

I suspect my use of static properties may be the cause. Here's an example of what I have today:

public class StaticReferences
{
    public static readonly object Fixed1 = new object();
}

public class ShortLived
{
    public object Object1;
}

public class Doer // This class is instantiated once
{
    public void DoStuff() // This method is called over and over again.
    {
        var shortLived = new ShortLived() 
        {
            Object1 = StaticReferences.Fixed1
        };
    }
}

Will an instance of ShortLived with its reference to StaticReferences.Fixed1 (via the ShortLived.Object1 property) get properly garbage collected once it is out of scope?

Answer 1

No, just referencing global static properties won't create a memory leak. The example you posted is fine. shortLived will be cleaned up once its scope is over and the reference to Fixed1 will get cleaned up when your program exits. Your problem is very likely elsewhere but it's impossible to say from your simple example. Do you have any proof that you're looking at a memory leak?

I suggest you use a memory profiler or get a full memory dump and analyze it (WinDbg is free but there are other, easier to use but pay tools, too). Another tool you can try using is DebugDiag from Microsoft (also free) - get a dump and then run it through DebugDiag to get a memory report.

As @EricJ mentioned in his comment, the profiler in Visual Studio 2015 is also a great tool to analyze memory use and it's available in all editions, including the free Community Edition .