System.TObject.Destroy

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Delphi

destructor Destroy; virtual;

C++

__fastcall virtual ~TObject(void);

Properties

Type	Visibility	Source	Unit	Parent
destructor	public	System.pas systobj.h	System	TObject

Description

Disposes of an object instance.

Do not call Destroy directly. Call Free instead. Free verifies that the object reference is not nil before calling Destroy.

The Destroy method defined by TObject deallocates memory. Descendent objects usually define a destructor that is customized for that particular kind of object.

When declaring a Destroy method in a descendant, always add the override directive to the declaration and call the inherited Destroy as the last statement in the overriding method. Because Destroy is a virtual method, overriding it ensures that the proper inherited behavior occurs.

Note: If an exception escapes from the constructor, the destructor is called to destroy the partially constructed object instance that failed to initialize completely. Therefore, destructors should check that allocated resources such as handles were actually allocated before trying to release them, since their value might be zero.

Destroy should be implemented so that it calls Free on all subobjects created within the object's constructor (that is, allocated by the constructor). Unlike Destroy, Free provides a safeguard when destroying objects that are nil.

See Also

• System.TObject.Free