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javatry-with-resourcesautocloseable

Does try-with-resources call dispose() method?

I have been using try-with-resources a lot. I use it for database resource types or File stuff all the time to close the resource.

Now, I am using POI for large Excel files, and I am just noticing that I should call workbook.dispose(). Will try-with-resources call the dispose() method? Everything I looked up only covers close().

Solution

  • No, try-with-resources only works for objects that implement java.lang.AutoCloseable. That interface defines a single method: close(). That close method is the one and only method called by the try-with-resources syntax.

    To quote the tutorial on try-with-resources:

    Any object that implements java.lang.AutoCloseable, which includes all objects which implement java.io.Closeable, can be used as a resource.

    Any dispose() method is not automatically called. However, the developers of these classes/libraries might have decided to call dispose() in their implementation of the close() method or vice versa. In that case both "clean up" methods would do the same.