MemoryFailPoint Class

Definition

Namespace:

System.Runtime

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

MemoryFailPoint.cs

Checks for sufficient memory resources before executing an operation. This class cannot be inherited.

public ref class MemoryFailPoint sealed : System::Runtime::ConstrainedExecution::CriticalFinalizerObject, IDisposable

public sealed class MemoryFailPoint : System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.CriticalFinalizerObject, IDisposable

type MemoryFailPoint = class
    inherit CriticalFinalizerObject
    interface IDisposable

Public NotInheritable Class MemoryFailPoint
Inherits CriticalFinalizerObject
Implements IDisposable

Inheritance

Object

CriticalFinalizerObject

MemoryFailPoint

Implements

IDisposable

Examples

MemoryFailPoint enables an application to slow itself to avoid running out of memory in a corrupting manner. It should be used within a lexical scope. The following example launches threads to process items in a work queue. Before each thread is launched, the available memory resources are checked using MemoryFailPoint. If an exception is thrown, the main method waits until memory is available before launching the next thread.

using System;
using System.Runtime;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections;

class MemoryFailPointExample
{
    // Allocate in chunks of 64 megabytes.
    private const uint chunkSize = 64 << 20;
    // Use more than the total user-available address space (on 32 bit machines)
    // to drive towards getting an InsufficientMemoryException.
    private const uint numWorkItems = 1 + ((1U << 31) / chunkSize);
    static Queue workQueue = new Queue(50);

    // This value can be computed separately and hard-coded into the application.
    // The method is included to illustrate the technique.
    private static int EstimateMemoryUsageInMB()
    {
        int memUsageInMB = 0;

        long memBefore = GC.GetTotalMemory(true);
        int numGen0Collections = GC.CollectionCount(0);
        // Execute a test version of the method to estimate memory requirements.
        // This test method only exists to determine the memory requirements.
        ThreadMethod();
        // Includes garbage generated by the worker function.
        long memAfter = GC.GetTotalMemory(false);
        // If a garbage collection occurs during the measuring, you might need a greater memory requirement.
        Console.WriteLine("Did a GC occur while measuring?  {0}", numGen0Collections == GC.CollectionCount(0));
        // Set the field used as the parameter for the MemoryFailPoint constructor.
        long memUsage = (memAfter - memBefore);
        if (memUsage < 0)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("GC's occurred while measuring memory usage.  Try measuring again.");
            memUsage = 1 << 20;
        }

        // Round up to the nearest MB.
        memUsageInMB = (int)(1 + (memUsage >> 20));
        Console.WriteLine("Memory usage estimate: {0} bytes, rounded to {1} MB", memUsage, memUsageInMB);
        return memUsageInMB;
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Attempts to allocate more than 2 GB of memory across worker threads.");
        int memUsageInMB = EstimateMemoryUsageInMB();

        // For a production application consider using the threadpool instead.
        Thread[] threads = new Thread[numWorkItems];
        // Create a work queue to be processed by multiple threads.
        int n = 0;
        for (n = 0; n < numWorkItems; n++)
            workQueue.Enqueue(n);
        // Continue to launch threads until the work queue is empty.
        while (workQueue.Count > 0)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(" GC heap (live + garbage): {0} MB", GC.GetTotalMemory(false) >> 20);
            MemoryFailPoint memFailPoint = null;
            try
            {
                // Check for available memory.
                memFailPoint = new MemoryFailPoint(memUsageInMB);
                n = (int)workQueue.Dequeue();
                threads[n] =
                    new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(ThreadMethod));
                WorkerState state = new WorkerState(n, memFailPoint);
                threads[n].Start(state);
                Thread.Sleep(10);
            }
            catch (InsufficientMemoryException e)
            {
                // MemoryFailPoint threw an exception, handle by sleeping for a while,  then
                // continue processing the queue.
                Console.WriteLine("Expected InsufficientMemoryException thrown.  Message: " + e.Message);
                // We could optionally sleep until a running worker thread
                // has finished, like this:  threads[joinCount++].Join();
                Thread.Sleep(1000);
            }
        }

        Console.WriteLine("WorkQueue is empty - blocking to ensure all threads quit (each thread sleeps for 10 seconds)");
        foreach (Thread t in threads)
            t.Join();
        Console.WriteLine("All worker threads are finished - exiting application.");
    }

    // Test version of the working code to determine memory requirements.
    static void ThreadMethod()
    {
        byte[] bytes = new byte[chunkSize];
    }

    internal class WorkerState
    {
        internal int _threadNumber;
        internal MemoryFailPoint _memFailPoint;

        internal WorkerState(int threadNumber, MemoryFailPoint memoryFailPoint)
        {
            _threadNumber = threadNumber;
            _memFailPoint = memoryFailPoint;
        }

        internal int ThreadNumber
        {
            get { return _threadNumber; }
        }

        internal MemoryFailPoint MemoryFailPoint
        {
            get { return _memFailPoint; }
        }
    }

    // The method that does the work.
    static void ThreadMethod(Object o)
    {
        WorkerState state = (WorkerState)o;
        Console.WriteLine("Executing ThreadMethod, " +
            "thread number {0}.", state.ThreadNumber);
        byte[] bytes = null;
        try
        {
            bytes = new byte[chunkSize];
            // Allocated all the memory needed for this workitem.
            // Now dispose of the MemoryFailPoint, then process the workitem.
            state.MemoryFailPoint.Dispose();
        }
        catch (OutOfMemoryException oom)
        {
            Console.Beep();
            Console.WriteLine("Unexpected OutOfMemory exception thrown: " + oom);
        }

        // Do work here, possibly taking a lock if this app needs
        // synchronization between worker threads and/or the main thread.

        // Keep the thread alive for awhile to simulate a running thread.
        Thread.Sleep(10000);

        // A real thread would use the byte[], but to be an illustrative sample,
        // explicitly keep the byte[] alive to help exhaust the memory.
        GC.KeepAlive(bytes);
        Console.WriteLine("Thread {0} is finished.", state.ThreadNumber);
    }
}

Remarks

Note

This class is intended for use in advanced development.

Creating an instance of the MemoryFailPoint class creates a memory gate. A memory gate checks for sufficient resources before initiating an activity that requires a large amount of memory. Failing the check results in an InsufficientMemoryException exception being thrown. This exception prevents an operation from being started and reduces the possibility of failure due to lack of resources. This enables you decrease performance to avoid an OutOfMemoryException exception and any state corruption that may result from improper handling of the exception in arbitrary locations in your code.

Important

This type implements the IDisposable interface. When you have finished using the type, you should dispose of it either directly or indirectly. To dispose of the type directly, call its Dispose method in a try/catch block. To dispose of it indirectly, use a language construct such as using (in C#) or Using (in Visual Basic). For more information, see the "Using an Object that Implements IDisposable" section in the IDisposable interface topic.

By throwing an InsufficientMemoryException exception, an application can distinguish between an estimate that an operation will not be able to complete and a partially completed operation that may have corrupted the application state. This allows an application to reduce the frequency of a pessimistic escalation policy, which may require unloading the current AppDomain or recycling the process.

MemoryFailPoint checks to see whether sufficient memory and consecutive virtual address space are available in all garbage collection heaps, and may increase the size of the swap file. MemoryFailPoint makes no guarantees regarding the long-term availability of the memory during the lifetime of the gate, but callers should always use the Dispose method to ensure that resources associated with MemoryFailPoint are released.

To use a memory gate, you must create a MemoryFailPoint object and specify the number of megabytes (MB) of memory that the next operation is expected to use. If enough memory is not available, an InsufficientMemoryException exception is thrown.

The parameter of the constructor must be a positive integer. A negative value or 0 raises an ArgumentOutOfRangeException exception.

MemoryFailPoint operates at a granularity of 16 MB. Any values smaller than 16 MB are treated as 16 MB, and other values are treated as the next largest multiple of 16 MB.

Constructors

MemoryFailPoint(Int32)

Initializes a new instance of the MemoryFailPoint class, specifying the amount of memory required for successful execution.

Methods

Dispose()	Releases all resources used by the MemoryFailPoint.
Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object. (Inherited from Object)
Finalize()	Ensures that resources are freed and other cleanup operations are performed when the garbage collector reclaims the MemoryFailPoint object.
GetHashCode()	Serves as the default hash function. (Inherited from Object)
GetType()	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object)
MemberwiseClone()	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object)
ToString()	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object)