I am new to VB, but not new to programming. I am using VB.Net 2003 and
I have written a small app to monitor several running processes and
everything is fine except the memory usage. When the app starts up,
even though there is very little on the form, the memory usage
displayed in task manager jumps to 24MB.
If I minimize the app, usage drops to .6MB. If I then restore the app,
it moves back up to 3-6MB.
Here are a few details about the program:
1. There is a custom control in a separate dll that does the real work.
Each instance of the control monitors 1 app. It takes a small bit of
XML in the form of an XmlElement for initialization. It contains 4
16x16 32bit images, 3 buttons, 2 labels, a tooltip, and a subform for
configuration.
2. The custom controls are stored on a custom tabpage that controls
positioning and size. This tabpage raises a few events that affect the
size of the main form and the form icon.
3. The main form has 4 icons stored in an array and 4 images are stored
in an image list for the tab pages, a menu with 8 entries, and a tab
control.
4. By default, and without an XML file to load from, there are no
custom tab pages or controls loaded, yet the memory issue still occurs.
5. Up until the main form is shown (Form.Show()) and minimized
(Form.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized), the memor usage is
between 24 and 30 MB. Once the form is shown and minimized by hand,
the usage drops to 600k. While testing, I wrapped the app in a module
that immediately showed and minimized the form. Doing this
programmatically, the memory usage dropped to 5MB.
Is there anything I can do to reduce the memory footprint of this app?