SPSite and SPWeb object dispose inside foreach loop

Question

I have a code that loops through all the Sites and Webs in a web application. My code uses for..each loop to navigate through each site and web object.

I was wondering if we are required to dispose the SPWeb and SPSite objects when used inside a loop.

Codes:-

foreach (SPSite thisSite in siteAuditWebApplication.Sites) { //My operation here }

Similar to the above code I also have some part of code that loops through all the Web and Lists.

Do we have any best practice for disposing objects inside the loop, or do i really need to take care about disposing the objects?

Thanks in Adv.. Sudhir

Answer 1

I would strongly recommend you go through this reference article if you haven't done so already.

Answer 2

Yes you need to dispose of all of them.

foreach (SPSite thisSite in siteAuditWebApplication.Sites) 
{ 
    //My operation here 
    thisSite.Dispose();
}

Answer 3

If you are worried about disposing all the objects correctly, you can view ULS log and look for the following message

An SPRequest object was not disposed before the end of this thread. To avoid wasting system resources, dispose of this object or its parent (such as an SPSite or SPWeb) as soon as you are done using it.

Having those messages in your ULS logs indicates that some of your code might not call dispose on all disposable SPWeb/SPSite objects.