Is abusing IDisposable to benefit from “using” statements considered harmful? [closed]

Answer 1

So in asp.net MVC views, we see the following construct:

using(Html.BeginForm())
{
    //some form elements
}

An abuse? Microsoft says no (indirectly).

If you have a construct that requires something to happen once you're done with it, IDisposable can often work out quite nicely. I've done this more than once.

Answer 2

You certainly wouldn't be the first one to 'abuse' IDisposable in that way. Probably my favorite use of it is in timers, as the StatsD.NET client demonstrates:

using StatsdClient;
...
using (statsd.LogTiming( "site.db.fetchReport" ))
{
  // do some work
}
// At this point your latency has been sent to the server

In fact, I'm pretty sure Microsoft themselves use it in some libraries. My rule of thumb would be - if it improves readbility, go for it.

Answer 3

"Is it an abuse of the IDisposable interface to use it this way"? Probably.

Does using using as a purely "scoping" construct make for more obvious intent and better readability of code? Certainly.

The latter trumps the former for me, so I say use it.