Simple Scala pattern for "using/try-with-resources" (Automatic Resource Management)

Your approach with a single simple loan pattern is working fine as long as you don't need to work with several resources, all needing to be managed. That's allowed with scala-arm monadic approach.

import resource.managed

managed(openResA).and(managed(openResB)) acquireFor { (a, b) => ??? }

val res = for {
  a <- managed(openResA)
  b <- managed(openResB)
  c <- managed(openResC)
} yield (a, b, c)

res acquireAndGet {
  case (a, b, c) => ???
}

Main functions to know in scala-arm is resource.managed and .acquired{For,AndGet}, not really complex btw.


Here is my newer simple, understand at a glance, Scala ARM. This fully supports every use case I can think of including multiple resources and yield values. This uses a very simple for comprehension usage syntax:

class AutoCloseableWrapper[A <: AutoCloseable](protected val c: A) {
  def map[B](f: (A) => B): B = {
    try {
      f(c)
    } finally {
      c.close()
    }
  }

  def foreach(f: (A) => Unit): Unit = map(f)

  // Not a proper flatMap.
  def flatMap[B](f: (A) => B): B = map(f)

  // Hack :)    
  def withFilter(f: (A) => Boolean) = this
}

object Arm {
  def apply[A <: AutoCloseable](c: A) = new AutoCloseableWrapper(c)
}

Here's demo use:

class DemoCloseable(val s: String) extends AutoCloseable {
  var closed = false
  println(s"DemoCloseable create ${s}")

  override def close(): Unit = {
    println(s"DemoCloseable close ${s} previously closed=${closed}")
    closed = true
  }
}

object DemoCloseable {
  def unapply(dc: DemoCloseable): Option[(String)] = Some(dc.s)
}

object Demo {
  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    for (v <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("abc"))) {
      println(s"Using closeable ${v.s}")
    }

    for (a <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("a123"));
         b <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("b123"));
         c <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("c123"))) {
      println(s"Using multiple resources for comprehension. a.s=${a.s}. b.s=${b.s}. c.s=${c.s}")
    }

    val yieldInt = for (v <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("abc"))) yield 123
    println(s"yieldInt = $yieldInt")

    val yieldString = for (DemoCloseable(s) <- Arm(new DemoCloseable("abc")); c <- s) yield c
    println(s"yieldString = $yieldString")

    println("done")
  }
}

This is the code I use:

def use[A <: { def close(): Unit }, B](resource: A)(code: A ⇒ B): B =
    try
        code(resource)
    finally
        resource.close()

Unlike Java try-with-resources, the resource doesn't need to implement AutoCloseable. Only a close() method is needed. It only supports one resource.

Here is an example use with an InputStream:

val path = Paths get "/etc/myfile"
use(Files.newInputStream(path)) { inputStream ⇒
    val firstByte = inputStream.read()
    ....
}