MVVMLight Messenger.Unregister - should I unregister and how to do it? - mvvm-light

Question

I've looked at 'Messenger and references' discussion, but I'm writing a new topic, because my issue is not technical, and I don't want to offtop there.
I've encountered a doubt - Have I to code cleanup()/RequestCleanup() method implementation to unregister previously registered Messenger in my viewmodel class? I'm afraid of memory leaks in the future.
I think I've found the documentation not to be enough bright for me.
Description of Messenger.Register is: '... Registering a recipient does not create a hard reference to it, so if this recipient is deleted, no memory leak is caused.'
1) Is this mean that I don't have to take care of it and implement-develop following solutions?
On the other hand, we can find in the code of GalaSoft.MvvmLight.ViewModelBase abstract class the short info about the Cleanup() method:
//
// Summary:
// Unregisters this instance from the Messenger class.
// To cleanup additional resources, override this method, clean up and then
// call base.Cleanup().
public virtual void Cleanup();
so 2) Is only invoking a Cleanup enough to unregister class-instance out of the Messenger?
3) Or maybe I have to invoke Messenger.Default.Unregister(this); in the body of a Cleanup method?
4) In the Unregister(Object) doc we read 'Unregisters a messager recipient completely' - what does the 'completely' mean?
I'm very sorry if my post seems to have out of the context quotes, I wanted to point out what I'm more interested in.
EDIT 1:
Hello Joel, thanks for reply. I've got several questions:
1) I have used your code. There's defined override void Cleanup() in CustomerMasterViewModel. Where to call it? Should I declare destructor in this case or maybe the ViewModelBase has an automatic mechanism for invoking the Cleanup()?
2) I have in my project another base class from a different toolkit, so my VMs cannot derive from both at the same time. How to organise your code to get the same effect by implementing only ICleanup interface?
public class CustomerMasterViewModel : SomeBaseClass, ICleanup
{
public CustomerMasterViewModel()
{
Messenger.Default.Register<Message>(this, this.MessageReceived);
}
#region messages
private void MessageReceived(Message obj)
{
//do something
}
#endregion
#region helper methods
public override void Cleanup()
{
//base.Cleanup();//there's no implementaction in an interface
ViewModelLocator.Cleanup();
}
#endregion
}

Answer 1

You have to invoke the Cleanup() method in GalaSoft.MvvmLight.ViewModelBase on each of you view models you wan't to dispose don't need any longer.
Example:
Let say your application has a tab control with different tabs. Each of your tabs displays a UserControl which has a dedicated ViewModel. The user has the ability to close a tabs which causes the underlining ViewModel to become obsolete.
Want you want to do now is to clean up the ViewModel calling the Cleanup() method in GalaSoft.MvvmLight.ViewModelBase. This will unregister ALL registered messages. The GarbageCollector will take care of you viewmodel if there are no other references.
Assuming you use the ViewModelLocator which also comes with the MVVM Light Framework you're not done yet because at least the ViewModelLocator itself has a reference to your viewmodel! Therefore the Garbage Collector can't finalize your viewmodel.
But it also has another side effect. When the user reopens the tab (Lets say the user is able to do so) the UserControl is loaded again and the ViewModelLocator will give you the same ViewModel instance. The only difference is that there are not registered messages because you cleaned them by calling the CleanUp() method.
What you need is a new instance of your ViewModel. To achieve this you have to clean up your ViewModelLocator as well!
You have to unregister them (Unregister<CustomerMasterViewModel>()) one by one or simply call Reset() which will unregister all viewmodels.
Then there should be no other reference to you viewmodel and the GarbageCollector can finally take care about it.
Here is an example to do so:
ViewModelLocator:
public class ViewModelLocator
{
public ViewModelLocator()
{
ServiceLocator.SetLocatorProvider(() => SimpleIoc.Default);
SimpleIoc.Default.Register<CustomerMasterViewModel>();
}
public CustomerMasterViewModel CustomerMasterViewModel
{
get
{
return ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<CustomerMasterViewModel>();
}
}
public static void Cleanup()
{
SimpleIoc.Default.Reset();
//Don't forget to register them if the user attempts to open the new.
//The viewmodel initialization is lazy by default so this comes at no costs.
SimpleIoc.Default.Register<CustomerMasterViewModel>();
}
}
ViewModel
public class CustomerMasterViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
public CustomerMasterViewModel()
{
Messenger.Default.Register<Message>(this, this.MessageReceived);
}
#region messages
private void MessageReceived(Message obj)
{
//do something
}
#endregion
#region helper methods
public override void Cleanup()
{
base.Cleanup();
ViewModelLocator.Cleanup();
}
#endregion
}
In Short:
1) As far as i understood clean up is necessary after you're done.
2) Yes, calling the Cleanup() method in GalaSoft.MvvmLight.ViewModelBase will unregister all messages for this viewmodel.
3) No, see above.
4) Completely means it will unregister ALL registered messages.