GAMAP tips and tricks

Memory management and CTM_MAKE_DATAINFO

When using CTM_MAKE_DATAINFO, you create few pointers and allocate memory to pointed data. Three scenarios to free that memory are possible.

(1) By default, GAMAP keeps track of the pointers in a global structure, and you can clean up the memory by calling CTM_CLEANUP (with or without the keyword /NO_GC):

    ctm_make_datainfo(data, ...)
    CTM_WriteBpch, DataInfo, FileInfo, FileName=file
    ctm_cleanup

(2) If you use the keyword /NO_GLOBAL when calling CTM_MAKE_DATAINFO, the story is a little bit more subtle. Now, GAMAP has no idea of the created pointers. If you use CTM_CLEANUP without the keyword /NO_GC, everything is clean up because there is a call to heap_gc. But you are also loosing **all other** pointers and objects.

    ctm_make_datainfo(data, ..., /No_global)
    CTM_WriteBpch, DataInfo, FileInfo, FileName=file
    ctm_cleanup

Note if you do not call ctm_cleanup or call it with /No_GC, then the memory allocated by CTM_MAKE_DATAINFO is still allocated and the pointers that refers to it are alive... until you exit the routine (unless they are passed back). Once you are out of the routine, this memory remains allocated but is useless since unaccessible, in other words you have memory leak.

(3) So, if you want to keep some objects and/or pointers alive in your code (i.e., you do not want to call heap_gc or ctm_cleanup,/no_gc), you need to free only the created pointers as follows:

    ctm_make_datainfo(data, datainfo, fileinfo, ..., /No_global)
    CTM_WriteBpch, DataInfo, FileInfo, FileName=file
    ptr_free, DataInfo.data
    ptr_free, fileinfo.gridinfo

To free only the heap memory created by multiple calls to CTM_MAKE_DATAINFO, the procedure is:

  for D=0L, NTracers-1L do begin
     
     Success = CTM_Make_DataInfo( Data[*,*,D], DataInfo, FileInfo, ..., /No_Global )
     
     ArrDataInfo = D eq 0l ? [ DataInfo ] : [ ArrDataInfo, DataInfo ]
     
     if D ne Ntracers-1l then ptr_free, Fileinfo.gridinfo
     
  endfor
     
  CTM_WriteBpch, ArrDataInfo, FileInfo, FileName=OutFileName
     
  for d=0, n_elements(ArrDataInfo)-1l do ptr_free, ArrDataInfo[d].data
  ptr_free, fileinfo.gridinfo

--Phillipe Le Sager 2008/02/13 10:28