GCHandle.Free Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Runtime.InteropServices

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

GCHandle.cs

Releases a GCHandle.

public:
 void Free();

public void Free ();

member this.Free : unit -> unit

Public Sub Free ()

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

The handle was freed or never initialized.

Examples

The following example shows an App class that creates a handle to a managed object using the GCHandle.Alloc method, which prevents the managed object from being collected. A call to the EnumWindows method passes a delegate and a managed object (both declared as managed types, but not shown), and casts the handle to an IntPtr. The unmanaged function passes the type back to the caller as a parameter of the callback function.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public delegate bool CallBack(int handle, IntPtr param);

internal static class NativeMethods
{
    // passing managed object as LPARAM
    // BOOL EnumWindows(WNDENUMPROC lpEnumFunc, LPARAM lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    internal static extern bool EnumWindows(CallBack cb, IntPtr param);
}

public class App
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Run();
    }

    public static void Run()
    {
        TextWriter tw = Console.Out;
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.Alloc(tw);

        CallBack cewp = new CallBack(CaptureEnumWindowsProc);

        // platform invoke will prevent delegate to be garbage collected
        // before call ends

        NativeMethods.EnumWindows(cewp, GCHandle.ToIntPtr(gch));
        gch.Free();
    }

    private static bool CaptureEnumWindowsProc(int handle, IntPtr param)
    {
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(param);
        TextWriter tw = (TextWriter)gch.Target;
        tw.WriteLine(handle);
        return true;
    }
}

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Security.Permissions

Public Delegate Function CallBack(ByVal handle As Integer, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean


Friend Module NativeMethods

    ' passing managed object as LPARAM
    ' BOOL EnumWindows(WNDENUMPROC lpEnumFunc, LPARAM lParam);
    <DllImport("user32.dll")>
    Friend Function EnumWindows(ByVal cb As CallBack, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean
    End Function
End Module


Module App

    Sub Main()

        Run()

    End Sub

    <SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, UnmanagedCode:=True)>
    Sub Run()

        Dim tw As TextWriter = Console.Out
        Dim gch As GCHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(tw)

        Dim cewp As CallBack
        cewp = AddressOf CaptureEnumWindowsProc

        ' platform invoke will prevent delegate to be garbage collected
        ' before call ends
        NativeMethods.EnumWindows(cewp, GCHandle.ToIntPtr(gch))
        gch.Free()

    End Sub


    Function CaptureEnumWindowsProc(ByVal handle As Integer, ByVal param As IntPtr) As Boolean
        Dim gch As GCHandle = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(param)
        Dim tw As TextWriter = CType(gch.Target, TextWriter)
        tw.WriteLine(handle)
        Return True

    End Function
End Module

Remarks

The caller must ensure that for a given handle, Free is called only once.