Disposing of data sources

-- I'm Sending again with a "reply to" header, since this list is brain dead about replying. Please reply to the mail list.

How should I delete a data source after its GUI display is removed, such as its window closed?

In AppleScript Studio (Xcode using AppleScript) we populate the cells of a table by making and attaching a data source to it. Each time we make a new table (usually by opening a new window containing a table), we create a new associated data source.

When we no longer need a table, such as wen closing a window containing a table, we logically should delete the associated data source to recover the memory that it used. Otherwise our application will bloat every time we close a window and open another. I've had this happen with large tables or prolonged use of my application, where it eventually freezes or reports a memory error.

I looks at various sample applications, such as the "Mail Search" included with Xcode. They don't seem to dispose of data sources after being dismissed. There is no handling of a closed window. I thought that the now deprecated approach of adding a ASKDataSource object in Interface Builder would automatically handle the disposal of the associated memory when the window containing the instance as closed, but testing shows that the data source still exists after the associated table (and window) are closed.

So I figured we have to manually delete a data source when the associated window is closed. I created a "data source window links" list to keep track of data sources created for each window, then checks the list for any data sources to delete when the window closes. (The list is actually a data source itself since Xcode facilitates database like searching on it). Here's some sample code I tried:

property windowDataName : "data source window links"

on awake from nib theObject

if class of theObject is table view then

AddDataSourceLinkTo(theObject)

end if

end awake from nib

on will close theObject

DeleteDataSourcesOf(theObject)

end will close

on AddDataSourceLinkTo(theObject)

set newDataSource to make new data source at end in data sources

repeat with tableColumnRef in table columns in theObject

set myIdentifier to name of tableColumnRef

make new data column at end in newDataSource with properties {name:myIdentifier}

end repeat

if not (exists data source windowDataName) then

set linkDataSource to make new data source at end with properties {name:windowDataName}

tell linkDataSource

make new data column at end with properties {name:"data source id"}

make new data column at end with properties {name:"window id"}

end tell

end if

set newLinkDataRow to make new data row at end in data source windowDataName

tell newLinkDataRow

set contents of data cell "data source id" to id of newDataSource

set contents of data cell "window id" to id of window of theObject

end tell

set data source of theObject to newDataSource

end AddDataSourceLinkTo

on DeleteDataSourcesOf(theObject)

set myWindowID to id of theObject

set affectedLinkDataRows to every data row in data source windowDataName where contents of data cell "window id" is myWindowID

repeat with affectedLinkDataRow in affectedLinkDataRows

set myDataSourceID to contents of data cell "data source id" in affectedLinkDataRow

tell data source id myDataSourceID

delete

end tell

delete affectedLinkDataRow

end repeat

end DeleteDataSourcesOf

Am I correct in concluding that most or all ASS projects out there have a major memory leak issue when opening and closing tables? Is there a more straight forward way to handle the problem than my solution above?

My above simple example works fine. But in another real world project, the GUI freezes in my app whenever I delete the data source. I'm guessing it's because it's deleting the data source before my app has disposed of the window containing it (ie before the "on will close" handler has finished. Is there a way around this?