libdb/docs/programmer_reference/stl_memory_mgmt.html
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<title>Dbstl memory management</title>
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<th colspan="3" align="center">Dbstl memory management</th>
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<div class="sect1" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div>
<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="stl_memory_mgmt"></a>Dbstl memory management</h2>
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<div class="toc">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="sect2">
<a href="stl_memory_mgmt.html#id3946182">Freeing memory</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="sect2">
<a href="stl_memory_mgmt.html#id3946259">Type specific notes</a>
</span>
</dt>
</dl>
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<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 class="title"><a id="id3946182"></a>Freeing memory</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
When using dbstl, make sure memory allocated in the heap is
released after use. The rules for this are:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p>
dbstl will free/delete any memory allocated by dbstl itself.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
You are responsible for freeing/deleting any memory allocated by your code outside of dbstl.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 class="title"><a id="id3946259"></a>Type specific notes</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect3" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h4 class="title"><a id="id3946839"></a>DbEnv/Db</h4>
</div>
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</div>
<p>
When you open a <code class="classname">DbEnv</code> or <code class="classname">Db</code> object using
<code class="methodname">dbstl::open_env()</code> or <code class="methodname">dbstl::open_db()</code>, you
do not need to delete that object. However, if you new'd that object and then opened it
without using the <code class="methodname">dbstl::open_env()</code> or
<code class="methodname">dbstl::open_db()</code> methods, you are responsible for deleting the
object.
</p>
<p>
Note that you must <code class="literal">new</code> the <code class="classname">Db</code> or
<code class="classname">DbEnv</code> object, which allocates it on the heap. You can not allocate it
on the stack. If you do, the order of destruction is uncontrollable, which makes dbstl
unable to work properly.
</p>
<p>
You can call <code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code> before the process exits, to release any
memory allocated by dbstl that has to live during the entire process lifetime. Releasing the
memory explicitly will not make much difference, because the process is about to exit and so
all memory allocated on the heap is going to be returned to the operating system anyway. The
only real difference is that your memory leak checker will not report false memory leaks.
</p>
<p>
<code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code> releases any memory allocated by dbstl on the heap. It
also performs other required shutdown operations, such as closing any databases and
environments registered to dbstl and shared across the process.
</p>
<p>
If you are calling the <code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code> function, and your
<code class="classname">DbEnv</code> or <code class="classname">Db</code> objects are new'd by your code,
the <code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code> function should be called before deleting the
<code class="classname">DbEnv</code> or <code class="classname">Db</code> objects, because they need to be
closed before being deleted. Alternatively, you can call the
<code class="methodname">dbstl::close_env()</code> or <code class="methodname">dbstl::close_db()</code>
functions before deleting the <code class="classname">DbEnv</code> or <code class="classname">Db</code>
objects in order to explicitly close the databases or environments. If you do this,
can then delete these objects, and then call <code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code>.
</p>
<p>
In addition, before exiting a thread that uses dbstl API, you can call the <code class="function">dbstl_thread_exit() </code>function to release any Berkeley DB handles if they are not used by other threads.
If you do not call the <code class="function">dbstl_thread_exit() </code>function or call this function only in some threads, all open Berkeley DB handles will be closed by the <code class="function">dbstl_exit()</code>function.
You must call the <code class="function">dbstl_exit() </code>function before the process exits, to avoid memory leak and database update loss, if you do not have transactions and persistent log files.
</p>
</div>
<div class="sect3" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h4 class="title"><a id="id3946604"></a>DbstlDbt</h4>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Only when you are storing raw bytes (such as a bitmap) do you have to
store and retrieve data by using the <code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> helper class. Although you
also can do so simply by using the Berkeley DB <code class="classname">Dbt</code> class, the
<code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> class offers more convenient memory management behavior.
</p>
<p>
When you are storing <code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> objects (such as
<code class="classname">db_vector&lt;DbstlDbt&gt;</code>), you <span class="emphasis"><em>must</em></span> allocate
heap memory explicitly using the <code class="function">malloc()</code> function for the
<code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> object to reference, but you do not need to free the memory
it is automatically freed by the <code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> object that owns it
by calling the standard C library <code class="function">free()</code> function.
</p>
<p>
However, because dbstl supports storing any type of object or primitive data, it is rare
that you would have to store data using <code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> objects while using
dbstl. Examples of storing <code class="classname">DbstlDbt</code> objects can be found in the
<code class="methodname">StlAdvancedFeaturesExample::arbitrary_object_storage()</code> and
<code class="methodname">StlAdvancedFeaturesExample::char_star_string_storage()</code> methods.
</p>
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