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Using Keyword For Custom Class In C#

Most of the time we use ‘using’ keyword to create an instance of .net framework classes. But we can also create an instance of custom classes (programmer generated classes) by ‘using’ keyword.

Let us work on a sample code. First of all create a class ‘Employee’ that contains of property ‘MyDataSet’. Check the following code.

Public class Employee {
  public Employee() {
    MyDataSet = new DataSet();
  }
  public DataSet MyDataSet {
    get;
    set;
  }
}

Now create an instance of the class by ‘using’ keyword.

using(Employee emp = new Employee()) {

}

Once you run the preceding code you will encounter following error - 'Employee': type used in a using statement must be implicitly convertible to 'System.IDisposable'

The error gives you some idea about what needs to be done. You need to implement IDisposable interface. So the updated code would be

public class Employee: IDisposable {
  public Employee() {
    MyDataSet = new DataSet();
  }
  public DataSet MyDataSet {
    get;
    set;
  }
  public void Dispose() {
    Dispose(true);
    GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
  }

  private bool IsDisposed = false;

  protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing) {
    if (!IsDisposed && disposing) {
      MyDataSet.Dispose();
      IsDisposed = true;
    }
  }
}

Once you have implemented IDisposable interface and create an instance by ‘using’ keyword there will be no compile time error.

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Wednesday, April 29, 2015

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