C# Using Statement

2011-02-25


using Statement Provides a convenient syntax that ensures the correct use of IDisposable objects.

For example: if you have the code below:

using (Font font1 = new Font("Arial", 10.0f)) 
{
    byte charset = font1.GdiCharSet;
}

Then it essentially equivalent to the following:

...
{
  Font font1 = new Font("Arial", 10.0f);
  try
  {
    byte charset = font1.GdiCharSet;
  }
  finally
  {
    if (font1 != null)
      ((IDisposable)font1).Dispose();
  }
}

So "Using ... " equals "try ... finally..." (not includes catch)

The using statement ensures that Dispose is called even if an exception occurs while you are calling methods on the object. You can achieve the same result by putting the object inside a try block and then calling Dispose in a finally block; in fact, this is how the using statement is translated by the compiler.

But how about "catch: if you use "using"?

The big difference is that try...catch will swallow the exception, hiding the fact that an error occurred. try..finally will run your cleanup code and then the exception will keep going, to be handled by something that knows what to do with it.