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.NET Development
.NET Framework 3.5
System Namespace
GC Class
GC Methods
 WaitForPendingFinalizers Method
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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
GC..::.WaitForPendingFinalizers Method

Suspends the current thread until the thread that is processing the queue of finalizers has emptied that queue.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Shared Sub WaitForPendingFinalizers
Visual Basic (Usage)
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
C#
public static void WaitForPendingFinalizers()
Visual C++
public:
static void WaitForPendingFinalizers()
JScript
public static function WaitForPendingFinalizers()

When the garbage collector finds objects that can be reclaimed, it checks each object to determine the object's finalization requirements. If an object implements a finalizer and has not disabled finalization by calling SuppressFinalize, the object is placed in a list of objects that are marked as ready for finalization. The garbage collector calls the Finalize methods for the objects in this list and removes the entries from the list. This method blocks until all finalizers have run to completion.

The thread on which finalizers are run is unspecified, so there is no guarantee that this method will terminate. However, this thread can be interrupted by another thread while the WaitForPendingFinalizers method is in progress. For example, you can start another thread that waits for a period of time and then interrupts this thread if this thread is still suspended.

The following example demonstrates how to use the WaitForPendingFinalizers method to suspend the current thread until finalization of all the collected objects is complete.

Visual Basic
Imports System

Namespace WaitForPendingFinalizersExample
   Class MyWaitForPendingFinalizersClass

    ' You can increase this number to fill up more memory.
      Private Const numMfos As Integer = 1000
      ' You can increase this number to cause more
      ' post-finalization work to be done.
      Private Const maxIterations As Integer = 100

      Overloads Shared Sub Main()
         Dim mfo As MyFinalizeObject = Nothing

         ' Create and release a large number of objects
         ' that require finalization.
         Dim j As Integer
         For j = 0 To numMfos - 1
            mfo = New MyFinalizeObject()
         Next j

         'Release the last object created in the loop.
         mfo = Nothing

         'Force garbage collection.
         GC.Collect()

         ' Wait for all finalizers to complete before continuing.
         ' Without this call to GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers, 
         ' the worker loop below might execute at the same time 
         ' as the finalizers.
         ' With this call, the worker loop executes only after
         ' all finalizers have been called.
         GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()

         ' Worker loop to perform post-finalization code.
         Dim i As Integer
         For i = 0 To maxIterations - 1
            Console.WriteLine("Doing some post-finalize work")
         Next i
      End Sub
   End Class


   Class MyFinalizeObject
      ' Make this number very large to cause the finalizer to
      ' do more work.
      Private maxIterations As Integer = 10000

      Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()
         Console.WriteLine("Finalizing a MyFinalizeObject")

         ' Do some work.
         Dim i As Integer
         For i = 0 To maxIterations - 1
            ' This method performs no operation on i, but prevents 
            ' the JIT compiler from optimizing away the code inside 
            ' the loop.
            GC.KeepAlive(i)
         Next i
         MyBase.Finalize()
      End Sub
   End Class
End Namespace
C#
using System;

namespace WaitForPendingFinalizersExample
{
   class MyWaitForPendingFinalizersClass
   {
    // You can increase this number to fill up more memory.
    const int numMfos = 1000;
    // You can increase this number to cause more
    // post-finalization work to be done.
    const int maxIterations = 100;

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       MyFinalizeObject mfo = null;

       // Create and release a large number of objects
       // that require finalization.
       for(int j = 0; j < numMfos; j++)
       {
          mfo = new MyFinalizeObject();
       }

       //Release the last object created in the loop.
       mfo = null;

       //Force garbage collection.
       GC.Collect();

       // Wait for all finalizers to complete before continuing.
       // Without this call to GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers, 
       // the worker loop below might execute at the same time 
       // as the finalizers.
       // With this call, the worker loop executes only after
       // all finalizers have been called.
       GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();

       // Worker loop to perform post-finalization code.
       for(int i = 0; i < maxIterations; i++)
       {
          Console.WriteLine("Doing some post-finalize work");
       }
    }
   }

   class MyFinalizeObject
   {
    // Make this number very large to cause the finalizer to
    // do more work.
    private const int maxIterations = 10000;

    ~MyFinalizeObject()
    {
       Console.WriteLine("Finalizing a MyFinalizeObject");
            
       // Do some work.
       for(int i = 0; i < maxIterations; i++)
       {
          // This method performs no operation on i, but prevents 
          // the JIT compiler from optimizing away the code inside 
          // the loop.
          GC.KeepAlive(i);
       }
        }
    }
}
Visual C++
using namespace System;
ref class MyFinalizeObject
{
private:

   // Make this number very large to cause the finalizer to
   // do more work.
   literal int maxIterations = 10000;
   ~MyFinalizeObject()
   {
      Console::WriteLine( "Finalizing a MyFinalizeObject" );

      // Do some work.
      for ( int i = 0; i < maxIterations; i++ )
      {

         // This method performs no operation on i, but prevents
         // the JIT compiler from optimizing away the code inside
         // the loop.
         GC::KeepAlive( i );

      }
   }

};


// You can increase this number to fill up more memory.
const int numMfos = 1000;

// You can increase this number to cause more
// post-finalization work to be done.
const int maxIterations = 100;
int main()
{
   MyFinalizeObject^ mfo = nullptr;

   // Create and release a large number of objects
   // that require finalization.
   for ( int j = 0; j < numMfos; j++ )
   {
      mfo = gcnew MyFinalizeObject;

   }

   //Release the last object created in the loop.
   mfo = nullptr;

   //Force garbage collection.
   GC::Collect();

   // Wait for all finalizers to complete before continuing.
   // Without this call to GC::WaitForPendingFinalizers,
   // the worker loop below might execute at the same time
   // as the finalizers.
   // With this call, the worker loop executes only after
   // all finalizers have been called.
   GC::WaitForPendingFinalizers();

   // Worker loop to perform post-finalization code.
   for ( int i = 0; i < maxIterations; i++ )
   {
      Console::WriteLine( "Doing some post-finalize work" );

   }
}

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
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