Use of GetGuiResources

Question

Is it a good idea to use GetGuiResources(GetCurrentProcess(), GR_GDIOBJECTS) at the start of WinMain, and before the last return to detect GDI leaks or, more specifically, objects I forgot to release?
Also I'm currently wondering why the first call in my program returns 4 when there's no window yet.

see also the related question [*How to get GDI objects associated to a process*](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/251343/how-to-get-gdi-objects-associated-to-a-process) — Wolf, Feb 10 '17 at 13:58

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 23 '09 at 14:35

In most situations, it's enough to use process explorer. Keep the window open showing the GDI handles of your process (right-click on the columns, choose "Select Columns" and then check the "GDI Objects" checkbox in the "Process Memory" tab).

While running your application, watch the number of GDI handles - if it increases and never goes back, you know you have a leak.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 23 '09 at 12:32

1

The code with this MSDN magazine article provided a slick way to troubleshoot GDI handle leaks. Unfortunately, the source code no longer seems to be available...

answered Jan 23 '09 at 12:32

Hans Passant

922,412
146
1,693
2,536

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 23 '09 at 12:14

While this will tell you if you've leaked any GDI objects, it won't tell you anything about which GDI objects you've leaked. In a non-trivial program, I don't see this helping very much.

If you want to track GDI objects, I believe that there are some Performance Counters that display the number of GDI object handles that are currently allocated in a process. You could watch that over time to get a better idea of where your program is leaking.

Use of GetGuiResources

3 Answers3