Dispose of an SPWeb that is being returned from a function

Question

We have code where at times we'll be returning an SPWeb object from a function. So for example:

public SPWeb getDeptWeb()
{
    SPWeb deptWeb = SpSite.OpenWeb(SpContext.Web.ID);
    ...
    return deptWeb;
}

How can we dispose of the SPWeb object in this instance? Or is it sufficient to dispose it where we're accepting the returned parameter?

Answer 1

The best way is probably to dispose of the SPWeb in the caller, e.g. with the using statement:

public SPWeb getDeptWeb()
{
    SPWeb deptWeb = SpSite.OpenWeb(SpContext.Web.ID);
    // ...
    return deptWeb;
}

public void Foo()
{
    using (SPWeb deptWeb = getDeptWeb()) {
        // Do something with the website...
    }
}