How to free memory used by FileSave/OpenDialog?

[Recoveryelf]

Anytime I use FileOpenDialog or FileSaveDialog there is a 6k jump in memory that does not get cleared upon dialog close.

Here is a screenie of my project.

Here is example code with sections removed.

expandcollapse popup

; Includes
#include 
#include 

; Initialize Global Variables
Global $Error = 1
Global $FileMenuNew
Global $FileMenuCtrl
Global $FileMenuExit
Global $FileMenuLineBreak
Global $FileMenuOpen
Global $FileMenuOptions
Global $FileMenuSave
Global $FileMenuSaveAs
Global $MainWindowInput
Global $MainWindowHandle
Global $MainWindowOpenButton
Global $NewAttempt
Global $OpenAttempt
Global $Terminate = 1
Global $WindowHeight = @DesktopHeight * 0.5
Global $WindowTitle = "Iron Manager"
Global $WindowWidth = @DesktopWidth * 0.5
Global $WorkingFileHandle
Global $WorkingFileName

; Initialize Main GUI
CreateMainWindow()

; Main Loop
While 1
Switch GUIGetMsg()
Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, $FileMenuExit
$Terminate = 0
ExitLoop
Case $FileMenuNew
$NewAttempt = FileSaveDialog("New Database...", @WorkingDir & "\", _
"Database File (*.dbx)", (2 + 16), "New Database", $MainWindowHandle)
Case $FileMenuOpen, $MainWindowOpenButton
$OpenAttempt = FileOpenDialog("Open Database...", @WorkingDir & "\" , _
"Database File (*.dbx)", (1 + 2 + 8), "", $MainWindowHandle)
EndSwitch
If $Terminate = 0 Then ExitLoop
WEnd

; Clean Up
GUIDelete($MainWindowHandle)
Exit

Func CreateMainWindow()
$MainWindowHandle = GUICreate($WindowTitle, $WindowWidth, _
$WindowHeight, (@DesktopWidth * 0.25), (@DesktopHeight * 0.25))
$FileMenuCtrl = GUICtrlCreateMenu("File")
$FileMenuNew = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("New", $FileMenuCtrl, 0, 0)
$FileMenuOpen = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("Open...", $FileMenuCtrl, 1, 0)
$FileMenuSave = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("Save", $FileMenuCtrl, 2, 0)
$FileMenuSaveAs = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("Save As...", $FileMenuCtrl, 3, 0)
$FileMenuLineBreak = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("", $FileMenuCtrl, 4, 0)
$FileMenuOptions = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("Settings", $FileMenuCtrl, 5, 0)
$FileMenuExit = GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("Exit", $FileMenuCtrl, 6, 0)
$MainWindowInput = GUICtrlCreateInput("", ($WindowWidth * 0.02), _
($WindowHeight * 0.025), ($WindowWidth * 0.85), ($WindowHeight * 0.04))
$MainWindowOpenButton = GUICtrlCreateButton("Open...", _
($WindowWidth * 0.885), ($WindowHeight * 0.02225), ($WindowWidth * 0.1), ($WindowHeight * 0.045))
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $MainWindowHandle)
EndFunc ;==>CreateFirstWindow

Help anyone?

~Recoveryelf

[wakillon]

Search for ReduceMemory Function

By curiosity what's Iron Manager ? is there a link with Srware Iron browser ?

[Recoveryelf]

There is no link. It's a Data Manager I'm writing for a non-profit. Everything except the encryption engine will be open source when it's finished.

~Recoveryelf

[water]

6K? How much memory does your machine have? Why bother?

[BrewManNH]

What version of AutoIt are you using? There was a bug in versions prior to 3.3.7.0 with FileOpen and the memory consumption of using it.

[Recoveryelf]

I've already done tests to find out that it's not FileOpen, but any of the FileOpen/Save dialogs do cause the memory spike. I'm a traditional programmer so I want my applications to be as small as possible and do run memory tests on every feature. The goal is to create a program that runs as fast and efficent as possible. I know I'm asking a lot out of an automated language but 6k on a dialog box could turn into much more in the size of this project. I'm using v3.3.8.1. My machine has 6gb. But 6k is not something to scoff at, IMHO.

Edit:

Just not enough time to do it with a low-level language and do not want java as a requirement. Must be a standalone exe.

~Recoveryelf

Edited August 4, 2012 by Recoveryelf

[water]

From the code you posted I didn't get the impression that this is a 7x24 service script. So the 6k wouldn't sum up to a big amount of "lost" storage causing problems.

I'm an old mainframe programmer and started with 36k of core memory. We had to carefully use the memory we had. But nowadays I wouldn't invest too much time in searching the reason for this lost memory.

Just my 0.02$

[Recoveryelf]

Still... it is a bug.

[guinness]

Still... it is a bug.

Have you tested just using FileOpenDialog or FileSaveDialog alone? If there is no jump then there is no bug with those functions.

[Recoveryelf]

Yes, I have. FileOpenDialog and FileSaveDialog both do the same thing. Also, for every use of the dialog it adds 200kb memory which does not free.

[BrewManNH]

Are you sure it's an AutoIt problem and not a Windows problem? Have you done any testing using something similar in another language and watching the memory usage?

[Xandy]

;I think this function was written by god.
Func _ReduceMemory($i_PID = -1);I use this function to greatly reduce the amount of memory Runner absorbs.
    if $i_PID <> -1 then
        local $ai_Handle = dllcall("kernel32.dll", 'int', 'OpenProcess', 'int', 0x1f0fff, 'int', False, 'int', $i_PID)
        $ai_return = dllcall("psapi.dll", 'int', 'EmptyWorkingSet', 'long', $ai_Handle[0])
        dllcall('kernel32.dll', 'int', 'CloseHandle', 'int', $ai_Handle[0])
    else
        $ai_return = dllcall("psapi.dll", 'int', 'EmptyWorkingSet', 'long', -1)
    Endif
    return $ai_return[0]
EndFunc   ;==>_ReduceMemory

Does calling the _reducememory() function after the dialog calls free the memory? If you run it in a loop (which I may test) how far does the leak go? Does it tapper off, leak forever into virtual memory, or what?

writing a test

Edited August 6, 2012 by Xandy

[water]

Anytime I use FileOpenDialog or FileSaveDialog there is a 6k jump in memory that does not get cleared upon dialog close.

By 6k do you mean the difference between 2,680 k to 8,516 k from the screenshot posted on your first post?

If yes, then it is not 6k but 6 megabyte.

When I run the following compiled test script I get 2,168 K at the start and 7,040 K after the FileOpenDialog.

msgbox(0, "Test", "Start ...")
FileOpenDialog("Titel","","")

For me it's Windows using the memory.

BTW: I'm running Windows 7 64 bit.

[JohnOne]

Certainly does seem like a memory leak.

I just looped it 100 times and it went to around15MB of memory, win 7 32.

[Xandy]

Two scripts

script 1: makes a dialog in a loop

script 2: sends escape to dialog to aquire next dialog in loop

choose and compile one, on first test I did not see any memory increase maybe I need to choose a file idk

;////// test dialog to test the dialog
#include <misc.au3>;give me _ispressed()
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>;give me $gui_event_close
$hgui= guicreate("I test", 320, 200)
guisetstate()
do
$msg= guigetmsg()
$loadname = fileopendialog("Unique fileopendialog test", @scriptdir, "", "", $hgui)
until $msg= $gui_event_close

Func _ReduceMemory($i_PID = -1); I use this function to greatly reduce the amount of memory Runner absorbs.  I think this functin was written by god.
    if $i_PID <> -1 then
        local $ai_Handle = dllcall("kernel32.dll", 'int', 'OpenProcess', 'int', 0x1f0fff, 'int', False, 'int', $i_PID)
        $ai_return = dllcall("psapi.dll", 'int', 'EmptyWorkingSet', 'long', $ai_Handle[0])
        dllcall('kernel32.dll', 'int', 'CloseHandle', 'int', $ai_Handle[0])
    else
        $ai_return = dllcall("psapi.dll", 'int', 'EmptyWorkingSet', 'long', -1)
    Endif
    return $ai_return[0]
EndFunc   ;==>_ReduceMemory

#include <misc.au3>;give me _ispressed()
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>;give me $gui_event_close
$hgui= guicreate("I send keys at test", 320, 200)
guisetstate()
do
       $msg= guigetmsg()
       $list = winlist("Unique fileopendialog test")
       if $list[0][0]> 0 then
              controlsend($list[1][1], "", 0, "{ESC}")
       endif;endif list> 0
until $msg= $gui_event_close

[water]

When we talk about memory, which of the 7 values the task manager offers do we talk about?

[JohnOne]

Private working set

[Xandy]

I used the Memory Usage field

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdHrOfeS7g&feature=youtu.be

[Bowmore]

This would appear to be a windows issue. I just tried opening the file open dialog and then clicking the cancel button and repeating the process about 20 to 30 time manually i.e. not using AutoIt in several different applications and for each of them the memory in use increased every time the file open dialog was activated. Not enough to give me any concern as I can not envisage a situation where I would be using the file open dialog hundreds of times.

This was on a Windows 7 pro system with 32 GB RAM.

[rover]

C++ GetOpenFileName memory usage

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vclanguage/thread/6e30c3fd-fbe2-4f2d-8f7c-171f31cae04a

As pointed out in that forum, the system shell code causes this.

I might add that there are GDI/USER object and handle leaks as well.

If this is an issue, I suggest launching the FileOpen dialog as a separate process

and get the return data using inter-process communication, i.e. WM_COPYDATA, mailslots, etc.