Is it possible to intercept (or be aware of) COM Reference counting on CLR objects exposed to COM

Question

I have rephrased this question.

When .net objects are exposed to COM Clients through COM iterop, a CCW (COM Callable Wrapper) is created, this sits between

Answer 1

I realize this is somewhat old question, but I did get the actual request to work some time back.

What it does is replace Release in the VTBL(s) of the created object with a custom implementation that calls Dispose when all references have been released. Note that there are no guarantees to this will always work. The main assumption is that all Release methods on all interfaces of the standard CCW are the same method.

Use at your own risk. :)

/// 

/// I base class to provide a mechanism where 
/// will be called when the last reference count is released.
/// 
/// 
public abstract class DisposableComObject: IDisposable
{
    #region Release Handler, ugly, do not look

    //You were warned.


    //This code is to enable us to call IDisposable.Dispose when the last ref count is released.
    //It relies on one things being true:
    // 1. That all COM Callable Wrappers use the same implementation of IUnknown.


    //What Release() looks like with an explit "this".
    private delegate int ReleaseDelegate(IntPtr unk);

    //GetFunctionPointerForDelegate does NOT prevent GC ofthe Delegate object, so we'll keep a reference to it so it's not GC'd.
    //That would be "bad".
    private static ReleaseDelegate myRelease = new ReleaseDelegate(Release);
    //This is the actual address of the Release function, so it can be called by unmanaged code.
    private static IntPtr myReleaseAddress = Marshal.GetFunctionPointerForDelegate(myRelease);


    //Get a Delegate that references IUnknown.Release in the CCW.
    //This is where we assume that all CCWs use the same IUnknown (or at least the same Release), since
    //we're getting the address of the Release method for a basic object.
    private static ReleaseDelegate unkRelease = GetUnkRelease();
    private static ReleaseDelegate GetUnkRelease()
    {
        object test = new object();
        IntPtr unk = Marshal.GetIUnknownForObject(test);
        try
        {
            IntPtr vtbl = Marshal.ReadIntPtr(unk);
            IntPtr releaseAddress = Marshal.ReadIntPtr(vtbl, 2 * IntPtr.Size);
            return (ReleaseDelegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(releaseAddress, typeof(ReleaseDelegate));
        }
        finally
        {
            Marshal.Release(unk);
        }
    }

    //Given an interface pointer, this will replace the address of Release in the vtable
    //with our own. Yes, I know.
    private static void HookReleaseForPtr(IntPtr ptr)
    {
        IntPtr vtbl = Marshal.ReadIntPtr(ptr);
        IntPtr releaseAddress = Marshal.ReadIntPtr(vtbl, 2 * IntPtr.Size);
        Marshal.WriteIntPtr(vtbl, 2 * IntPtr.Size, myReleaseAddress);
    }

    //Go and replace the address of CCW Release with the address of our Release
    //in all the COM visible vtables.
    private static void AddDisposeHandler(object o)
    {
        //Only bother if it is actually useful to hook Release to call Dispose
        if (Marshal.IsTypeVisibleFromCom(o.GetType()) && o is IDisposable)
        {
            //IUnknown has its very own vtable.
            IntPtr comInterface = Marshal.GetIUnknownForObject(o);
            try
            {
                HookReleaseForPtr(comInterface);
            }
            finally
            {
                Marshal.Release(comInterface);
            }
            //Walk the COM-Visible interfaces implemented
            //Note that while these have their own vtables, the function address of Release
            //is the same. At least in all observed cases it's the same, a check could be added here to
            //make sure the function pointer we're replacing is the one we read from GetIUnknownForObject(object)
            //during initialization
            foreach (Type intf in o.GetType().GetInterfaces())
            {
                if (Marshal.IsTypeVisibleFromCom(intf))
                {
                    comInterface = Marshal.GetComInterfaceForObject(o, intf);
                    try
                    {
                        HookReleaseForPtr(comInterface);
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        Marshal.Release(comInterface);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    //Our own release. We will call the CCW Release, and then if our refCount hits 0 we will call Dispose.
    //Note that is really a method int IUnknown.Release. Our first parameter is our this pointer.
    private static int Release(IntPtr unk)
    {
        int refCount = unkRelease(unk);
        if (refCount == 0)
        {
            //This is us, so we know the interface is implemented
            ((IDisposable)Marshal.GetObjectForIUnknown(unk)).Dispose();
        }
        return refCount;
    }
    #endregion

    /// 

    /// Creates a new 
    /// 
    protected DisposableComObject()
    {
        AddDisposeHandler(this);
    }

    /// 

    /// Calls  with false.
    /// 
    ~DisposableComObject()
    {
        Dispose(false);
    }

    /// 

    /// Override to dispose the object, called when ref count hits or during GC.
    /// 
    /// true if called because of a 0 refcount
    protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {

    }

    void IDisposable.Dispose()
    {
        Dispose(true);
        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
    }
}