How do I automatically delete temp files in C#?

Question

What's a good way to ensure that a temp file is deleted if my application closes or crashes? Ideally, I would like to obtain a temp file, use it, and then forget about it.

Right now, I keep a list of my temp files and delete them with an EventHandler that's triggered on Application.ApplicationExit.

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

Nothing is guaranteed if the process is killed prematurely, however, I use "using" to do this..

using System;
using System.IO;
sealed class TempFile : IDisposable
{
    string path;
    public TempFile() : this(System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName()) { }

    public TempFile(string path)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path)) throw new ArgumentNullException("path");
        this.path = path;
    }
    public string Path
    {
        get
        {
            if (path == null) throw new ObjectDisposedException(GetType().Name);
            return path;
        }
    }
    ~TempFile() { Dispose(false); }
    public void Dispose() { Dispose(true); }
    private void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if (disposing)
        {
            GC.SuppressFinalize(this);                
        }
        if (path != null)
        {
            try { File.Delete(path); }
            catch { } // best effort
            path = null;
        }
    }
}
static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string path;
        using (var tmp = new TempFile())
        {
            path = tmp.Path;
            Console.WriteLine(File.Exists(path));
        }
        Console.WriteLine(File.Exists(path));
    }
}

Now when the TempFile is disposed or garbage-collected the file is deleted (if possible). You could obviously use this as tightly-scoped as you like, or in a collection somewhere.