Visual Studio 2022 won't release memory

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Visual Studio 2022 won't release memory

Todd Lerew 60

Hello everyone; I have a new issue in my project in VS2022. I recently converted my software from VS2008 to VS2022 and it has been such a problem. My project is an ERP Software System that runs a company. Since going to VS2022, I have encountered a number of issues and with some help, been able to work thru them. Here's the newest one - my project, like I said, is an ERP System that runs a company - it consists of over 400 forms, 500 crystal reports, and a SQL Database. I probably have 80-100 client computers across the country who login in and use my software. We have been on this software since 2009. Since my conversion from VS2008 to VS2022, along with the other issues, the memory of the client computers keeps building when they do certain tasks in my software, where eventually their computer will lock up. It seems when VS2022 opens and closes a windows form, it does not release the memory used for that form? This is really bad when I open a form with a crystal report. If I open a windows form with an embedded crystal reports viewer, and then load a crystal report into the viewer, the memory will spike about 1.2GIGS higher. If I print, then close the windows form, it will release about 30MEGS for the windows form, but nothing else. So if I open more crystal reports, it adds 1.2G to the memory stack, then subtracts only 30MB when the form is closed. So you can se that after about 5 or 6 crystal reports, my program locks up the client pc. I have no idea why this happening or what is going on with this. Why is this different that VS2008? What am I missing? I try to dump the resources of the form before I close it but this doesn't seem to work in VS2022. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Todd

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Answer 1

Michael Taylor 57,216

There are many things that could be leaking. If your form hooks into any static events then you must explicitly unhook them before the form closes. My gut instinct is that your form isn't actually getting deleted because something has a reference to it.

One possible culprit is CR itself. If you're interacting with the CR library then you need to ensure you're cleaning it up. Refer to their docs on how to do that properly. It is possible that the CR viewer has a memory leak as well. From what you describe it sounds like the data for a report is getting loaded but never released. Review every place you are hooking into the viewer and ensure you're cleaning those up before the form closes.

One thing you should probably consider doing is running a memory profiler. The goal is to determine what memory is still allocated that shouldn't be and figuring out why. There are many tools available for this but a good starter tool would be the free one's provided by MS. You need to identify what objects are taking up a lot of memory and then trace back to where they came from and why they weren't cleaned up. The commercial tools may be better able to simplify this task but refer to this blog article on how to get started with the free tools.

If you're running the VS Enterprise edition then it also has a diagnostic tool that can help. But that won't help you if you aren't running Enterprise.

Also be sure to review all the warnings generated by the compiler and analyzers that run in the IDE. They can identify where you are not cleaning up resources properly in some cases which will help.

Todd Lerew 60 Reputation points

2024-02-21T14:05:55.1+00:00
Hey Michael;

Thanks for responding (again). What I really don't understand here is that it worked fine in VS2008, and it wasn't until I switched to VS2022 that this became a problem. This is the fourth different issue I have had with Crystal Reports Integration into VS2022 (you helped me solve the other issues - thank you).

What I would normally do when opening a crystal report in my project;

Create a windows form with an embedded crystal reports viewer (Print Form).

Load the form.

Load the dataset (SQL database query)

Load the crystal report into the viewer using the loaded dataset as the datasource

The user has options to view, print, or email the report.

The user closes the "Print Form".

When the form closes, I have always assumed that the resources that are used on that form is also released. This wasn't an issue in VS2008.

The only commands I use on the form closing event is [Me.Dispose()] and [Me.Close()] - one to dispose the resources (or so I thought), and one to close the form.

What else should I be doing?

I am going to test this with dumping the dataset before I close the form.

I will try your suggestions.

Thanks,

Todd
Michael Taylor 57,216 Reputation points

2024-02-21T15:30:53.4033333+00:00

Didn't you upgrade your libraries when you migrated to VS 2022? If you did then that potentially introduced an issue. It is hard to say at this point so that is why I recommend running a memory profiler to see where the data is leaking. Given the amount you're talking about it sounds like the report itself.

When you switched to VS 2022 did you change frameworks as well?

In general when you close a form it'll clean up any resources it references. The problem is that the underlying form instance (which is where the memory is at) may not be released if it is hooked into events from something else. It has always worked this way but an implementation change, possibly in CR, could result in CR keeping a reference to the parent form which means the parent form won't get released and hence it won't release the data loaded.

I'm still going to recommend using a memory profiler but I'm also going to recommend that any events you hook into you clean up when the form closes. I would probably focus on the CR events, if any, because they probably don't clean up as well as MS code.
Todd Lerew 60 Reputation points

2024-02-21T15:58:46.4733333+00:00

Hey; Yes, I changed frameworks - I went from .NET 3.5 to .NET 4.7.2. When I changed to VS2022, I had to go thru every crystal report and update them to the new version of crystal reports. I just tried to run the memory diagnostic tool in VS2022 (Under performance profiler). I started it and it sat there for 40 minutes trying to start. I don't know if that is normal or not, but I ended up cancelling it cuz I have other things I need to do. I am going thru my code on the print forms to make sure I dump the datasets and dispose resources before the form closes. So far, after testing, no change - memory keeps building and doesn't go back down when the form closes. Thanks, Todd
Michael Taylor 57,216 Reputation points

2024-02-21T16:51:56+00:00

I did a little searching as I've heard that CR can leak memory and I found this old post related to using CR with Winforms.

You should probably read through the post and make sure you're doing everything recommended. I have reservations about forcing a GC as recommended but ultimately for components that don't play well then it might be necessary. The downside is that if there are any outstanding objects still referenced then they are less likely to get cleaned up later.
Todd Lerew 60 Reputation points

2024-02-22T16:36:34.96+00:00

Hey Michael; So, I had a minor emergency yesterday in my ERP software. The errors became so prevalent that I had to go backwards and publish an old copy of my software, just to get rid of the errors. This also means any changes I made to the software in the past three weeks were lost and have to be re-created (which took me half the day today to fix). I did notice that my software in VS2008 stacks the memory, just like it does in VS2022, but to a lesser degree. I will not publish any updates out of VS2022 until I get this memory issue figured out. I copied and printed the text from the link you sent, it seems helpful if I can incorporate it correctly in my software. I have never even heard of "Garbage Collector" in Visual Studio before. I am going to be trying different things from here on out, trying to get CR to release the memory, so I will call your last response the answer and close this thread. Once again, thanks for your help - I think I know what the issue is as long as I can figure out how to fix it. Todd

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Visual Studio 2022 won't release memory

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