Remove(), Clear() or Dispose()

Question

Hi All

Simple question...

I have controls that the user can drag around on my form at runtime. And they can also delete them... Should I just Call .Dispose(); when they click the delete button, or should I do something like panel1.Controls.Clear(Control); ? ...Or something else?

Thanks :)

Bael

Answer 1

Just remove the control from the panel:

panel.Controls.Remove(someControlInstance);

Once there are no more references to it, it will be subject to garbage collection and unmanaged resources will be properly disposed.

Answer 2

You should remove it from the parent Controls collection as described in Darin Dimitrov's response, and also call Dispose:

panel.Controls.Remove(someControlInstance);
someControlInstance.Dispose();

You should always call Dispose on objects that implement IDisposable when you have finished with them, so that any unmanaged resources they own are immediately released.