Releasing memory of Custom Series elements

[Shai Samuel]

In my indicator, I use a custom series with my own class.

On each new bar, I create a new class, which also creates and manage SortedList, and assign it to the series.

To keep my memory managed well, do I need to clear or release memory occupied by these classes on OnStateChange State=Terminated, or when the chart refresh?

To clear, here is an example of my series and my class:

		private Series<TPObar> 			TPOseries;

			TPOseries = new Series<TPObar>(this);

	public class TPObar {
		public SortedList<double, TPObarPrice> TPObarPrices;
		
		public TPObar()
		{
			TPObarPrices = new SortedList<double, TPObarPrice>();			
		}
		
		public void Clear()
		{
			if (TPObarPrices != null)
			{
				TPObarPrices.Clear();
			}
		}
	}

and here is how I create and assign it on each bar:

protected override void OnBarUpdate()
		{
				...
				...
				TPObar CurrTPObar;
				CurrTPObar = TPOseries[0];
				if (CurrTPObar == null)
				{
					// New bar, create the TPObar
					CurrTPObar = new TPObar();
				}
					
				...
				my logic
				...
				TPOseries[0] = CurrTPObar;
				...
		}

[NinjaTrader_JessicaP]

Thank you for your question Shai Samuel.


Since SortedList doesn't implement IDisposable, .NET's garbage collection will need to be relied upon to handle the internal memory for each TPOBar. Similarly, you also do not have a point of control over your Series, as NinjaTrader's engine handles memory clean up for Series (which is why there is no special OnTermination handling in the documentation (linked) )


Therefore, OnTerminated isn't the right place if you would like to manage memory; at this point .Net's garbage collector will do all the work for you.



However, if you would like to prevent your script from amassing a large amount of memory during runtime, you can null out references using the Series' Reset method (documentation linked) during OnBarUpdate everywhere you are positive you won't need a particular bar object. You can then check to see if you've previously reset a bar using IsValidDataPointAt (documentation linked). This could be done, for example, once you've reached State.Realtime on all of your historical bars.