[pywin32-bugs] orphaned proxy objects

[wzint <zi...@op...>]

PyWin32 build 213 and up exhibit lots of orphaned object.Object proxy 
objects.

How to reproduce:
Get a vanilla Python and PyWin32 build >=213 installation (32 or 64 
bit). I have used PythonWin 219 and Python 2.7 for this listings.

Start PythonWin, open the interactive window.

Enter

import gc,pprint
from pywin.mfc import object

enumerate the existing object.Objects

gc.collect()
pprint.pprint([obj for obj in gc.get_objects() if 
isinstance(obj,object.Object)])

#one gets a list like this:

[<pywin.framework.intpyapp.InteractivePythonApp instance at 0x00C1AC60>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDEServer instance at 0x00CA9198>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDESystemTopic instance at 0x00CA9620>,
  <pywin.framework.intpyapp.MainFrame instance at 0x00CA99E0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditTemplate instance at 
0x00DCC440>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAEA30>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerStackWindow instance at 0x00DD7418>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAE210>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerBreakpointsWindow instance at 
0x00CAE828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DD7530>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerWatchWindow instance at 0x00DD7828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DDC210>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.CDockedInteractivePython instance at 
0x00DDC2B0>,
  <pywin.framework.winout.WindowOutputDocument instance at 0x00DDC3A0>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.DockedInteractiveView instance at 0x00DDC828>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.HierListDebugger instance at 0x00DD7440>,
  <pywin.framework.sgrepmdi.GrepTemplate instance at 0x00E2E710>,
  <pywin.framework.mdi_pychecker.TheTemplate instance at 0x00E355F8>]

#Enter Ctrl-N (File/New) and select python script and immediately close 
the script window again. Only the interactive window remains. List the 
existing object.Objects again:

gc.collect()
pprint.pprint([obj for obj in gc.get_objects() if 
isinstance(obj,object.Object)])

[<pywin.framework.intpyapp.InteractivePythonApp instance at 0x00C1AC60>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDEServer instance at 0x00CA9198>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDESystemTopic instance at 0x00CA9620>,
  <pywin.framework.intpyapp.MainFrame instance at 0x00CA99E0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditTemplate instance at 
0x00DCC440>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAEA30>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerStackWindow instance at 0x00DD7418>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAE210>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerBreakpointsWindow instance at 
0x00CAE828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DD7530>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerWatchWindow instance at 0x00DD7828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DDC210>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.CDockedInteractivePython instance at 
0x00DDC2B0>,
  <pywin.framework.winout.WindowOutputDocument instance at 0x00DDC3A0>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.DockedInteractiveView instance at 0x00DDC828>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.HierListDebugger instance at 0x00DD7440>,
  <pywin.framework.sgrepmdi.GrepTemplate instance at 0x00E2E710>,
  <pywin.framework.mdi_pychecker.TheTemplate instance at 0x00E355F8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E73B48>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00E73CB0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E73F58>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00E77198>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E772D8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00E73B70>]

#Note we have a SyntEditDocument, a SplitterFrame, two SyntEditViews and 
a FileWatchingThread

#Enter Ctrl-N (File/New), select python script four times and 
immediately close these windows again. List again:

gc.collect()
pprint.pprint([obj for obj in gc.get_objects() if 
isinstance(obj,object.Object)])

[<pywin.framework.intpyapp.InteractivePythonApp instance at 0x00C1AC60>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDEServer instance at 0x00CA9198>,
  <pywin.framework.intpydde.DDESystemTopic instance at 0x00CA9620>,
  <pywin.framework.intpyapp.MainFrame instance at 0x00CA99E0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditTemplate instance at 
0x00DCC440>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAEA30>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerStackWindow instance at 0x00DD7418>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00CAE210>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerBreakpointsWindow instance at 
0x00CAE828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DD7530>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.DebuggerWatchWindow instance at 0x00DD7828>,
  <pywin.docking.DockingBar.DockingBar instance at 0x00DDC210>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.CDockedInteractivePython instance at 
0x00DDC2B0>,
  <pywin.framework.winout.WindowOutputDocument instance at 0x00DDC3A0>,
  <pywin.framework.interact.DockedInteractiveView instance at 0x00DDC828>,
  <pywin.debugger.debugger.HierListDebugger instance at 0x00DD7440>,
  <pywin.framework.sgrepmdi.GrepTemplate instance at 0x00E2E710>,
  <pywin.framework.mdi_pychecker.TheTemplate instance at 0x00E355F8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E73B48>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00E73CB0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E73F58>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00E77198>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E772D8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00E73B70>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00E8A490>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E8A238>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00E8A3F0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E8A620>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00E9D9B8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E9DA30>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00E9DBE8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00E9DC10>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00EAE5A8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00EAE620>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00EAE7D8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00EAE800>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00EBD0D0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SplitterFrame instance at 
0x00EBD1C0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00EBD238>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.ModuleBrowser.BrowserView instance at 0x00EBD3F0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditView instance at 
0x00EBD418>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E8A968>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E9D8A0>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00EAE490>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00EBD0A8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00E8A738>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00E9D8C8>,
  <pywin.framework.editor.document.FileWatchingThread instance at 
0x00EAE4B8>]

# four more sets of orphans
# I am particularly concerned about docview.Documents. Define a helper

fn=lambda ty: [obj for obj in gc.get_objects() if isinstance(obj,ty)]

from pywin.mfc import docview

fn(docview.Document)

[<pywin.framework.winout.WindowOutputDocument instance at 0x00DDC3A0>,
<pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E73B48>,
<pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00EBD0D0>,
<pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E8A968>,
<pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00E9D8A0>,
<pywin.framework.editor.color.coloreditor.SyntEditDocument instance at 
0x00EAE490>]

# these have a substantial reference counts

import sys
sys.getrefcount(fn(docview.Document)[1])
10
# ...etc, until the end...
sys.getrefcount(fn(docview.Document)[-1])
10

# if one examines the orphans, the _obj_ member is None. So, these 
objects detatched correctly and
# should perish at some time.

# I have been using pythonwin up to build 212 in the past, these 
versions are not affected by this behaviour.

Best regards

Wolfgang Zint